During the time for Public Comments at the Board of County Commissioners for Creek County meeting on Monday morning, District #1 Commissioner Newt Stephens mentioned the redistricting of Oklahoma legislative districts following the 2020 census.
The Oklahoma Legislature is required to redraw state legislative and congressional district lines after each federal decennial census to reflect changes in population, and Counties must also shift their Commissioners’ districts.
According to the House of Representatives Redistricting website, “due to population shifts within the state, this once-every-decade task is necessary to ensure equal representation will exist for equal numbers of people.”
The new district boundaries will be used to conduct state congressional, legislative, and county elections beginning in 2022 through 2030.
Stephens explained that the main priority is that the “end result must balance population numbers.”
2019 data shows Creek County’s population at just over 71,000 people, which comes out to around 23,666 people per County district, if population were the only factor.
Unsurprisingly, legislative redistricting is more complicated than that. Population deviation between the 3 districts must be minimized, however, there are other guidelines that must be followed, and they often conflict with each other.
Things like “communities of interest” (groups of people with a common set of concerns that may be affected by legislation, including ethnic, racial, and economic groups) play a large role, and are to be taken into consideration in an effort to enable these groups to elect representatives whose policies align with their interests.
A relevant example of this are those who live within the city limits of a municipality and those who do not.
There are other factors that the commissioners must examine to make their decision, like historic boundaries, compactness, and contiguity. But ultimately, population dictates final results.
State Representative for House District 30, Mark Lawson (who serves on the House Redistricting Committee), told Sapulpa Times that “certain areas of the state grow and others shrink in population over a decade. The whole point of the decennial redistricting and drawing new lines is about people being represented equally, by legislators who share their interests and values.”
The 2011 County district map can be viewed on the INCOG website. These maps were voted on by individual County Commissioner Boards at that time.
In June, the BOCC for Oklahoma County voted 2-1 to allow state legislative staff members to prepare its new district boundaries. Other counties have opted to prepare the new boundaries themselves. It remains to be seen which direction Creek County will take.
It was unanimously approved to sign a Juvenile Detention Contract with Community Works for the 2021-2022 fiscal year for $42.50 per day, per child for Cleveland and Pottawatomie Counties.
The monthly Allocation of Beverage Tax was unanimously approved to be distributed as follows: Bristow $4,082.83; Depew $461.14; Drumright $2,816.49; Kellyville $1,113.83; Kiefer $1,631.72; Lawrence Creek $145.44; Mannford $2,979.66; Mounds $1,131.56; Oilton $982.58; Sapulpa $19,899.87; Shamrock $99.32; and Slick $127.70.
