Proposal calls for new group to draw legislative boundaries
Oklahoma’s legislative districts are redrawn once a decade by the same officials who are elected to those seats — a process that a new group supported by former Democratic Gov. David Walters wants to change.
The group, Represent Oklahoma, is planning to gather signatures this year for a new law creating an independent redistricting commission. Although the proposal’s language isn’t finalized, campaign manager Rico Smith said the commission would include members of all recognized Oklahoma political parties.
That, Smith said, would help end the creation of “questionable drawing of lines” that favor one party over another, a political tactic known as gerrymandering. Even then, he said the campaign won’t be one interested in helping elect more Democrats to the Oklahoma Legislature.
“Republicans enjoy a pretty significant registration advantage over any other party in Oklahoma. There are still going to be districts that have majority Republicans just like there are districts with majority Democrats in them,” Smith said. “No party is going to have any more say on the redistricting process than any other party.”
The constitutional amendment would prohibit lawmakers, lobbyists and their families from sitting on the commission. Registered members of each political party would have access to the commission, he said.
Smith said other states that have implemented independent redistricting, like California and Arizona, have seen success with higher turnout, fair races and competitive elections.
Gerrymandering has long been a political issue. A pending U.S. Supreme Court case challenging partisan redistricting could provide some finality, and Represent Oklahoma is keeping an eye out for that result.
“We don’t know what could happen at the Supreme Court. It could go either way,” Smith said. “The best way to make sure there is no gerrymandering in Oklahoma is to do an initiative petition, which is what we’re doing.”
Walters said the state didn’t find itself in dire financial straits by accident.
“This is the result, I think, of ideologically driven votes and the election of people who are more and more extreme,” the former governor said. “I do think we’ve reached a point where it’s important that voters choose their politicians and politicians don’t choose their voters.”
When districts are drawn to heavily favor one side over the other, he said, there is less political participation. In 2014, nearly three-fourths of elections across the state were decided in the primary.
“When you don’t have a general election and all the action is in the primary, you’re dealing with a base of either Democrats or Republicans that are going to require candidates to be more and more radical to be nominated,” said Walters.