Lawmakers Release Final Draft Of Congressional Redistricting Maps

Every 10 years, lawmakers are tasked with redrawing the state’s legislative and congressional voting districts. 

Every time district maps are redrawn, there are questions about who benefits from where the new lines are drawn. It is policy in Oklahoma to have state lawmakers redistrict the state map.

Andy Moore is the director of non-partisan group People Not Politicians that works to ensure voters are fairly represented. 

"The biggest change that is immediately apparent with the proposed congressional map is the fact that they divided Oklahoma County between three districts. They carved out a large section of south Oklahoma City and put it into the 3rd District," Moore said.

Moore is referring to the chunk of southwest Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County that will now be represented by the same U.S. representative as people who live across western Oklahoma and the panhandle. 

Democratic lawmakers are concerned this dilutes the Hispanic and Latino community on the south side of the metro. 

"It's disappointing that they would shove these voters into a place where they don't have a lot in common probably with their member of Congress, and they don't have a lot in common, certainly, with the panhandle of Oklahoma," state House Minority Leader Emily Virgin said.

Moore said this change and the fact that three congressional districts now overlap with Oklahoma County could also impact representation for rural communities down the road. 

"That means that people in rural areas could very well someday, in the next 10 years, be represented by someone who lives here, in the metro," Moore said.

The committee who ran the congressional redistricting process held one town hall meeting in each district to gather public input and people could submit their own maps for consideration. 

"It's very important to me as the Speaker of the House that our process ensures fairness and transparency and engagement from the public," said state Speaker of the House Charles McCall.

The maps still needs to be approved by lawmakers in a special legislative session. The special session is happening the week of November 15. 

At this point, there is no further official public comment process to provide feedback now that the maps have been released.