House Members Named to Redistricting Committees

“House members work directly for the people. Because these are the people’s districts, the House is putting the people in charge of the redistricting process,” said McCall, R-Atoka. “With this approach, more Oklahomans than ever are involved in their redistricting. This process has the highest level of accountability for the people because they directly elect their representatives.”

Eight regional redistricting subcommittees will go directly to the public to ask citizens how House districts should look for the next decade. In-person and virtual town halls, online submissions, citizen surveys and more will be used to gather extensive public input throughout the fall and winter ahead of the 2021 legislative session. Each House member will serve on a regional subcommittee.

Using the public’s input, subcommittees will produce regional maps used to build the statewide House district map.

“Public input from each region of Oklahoma is the foundation of the House’s inclusive, transparent and fully legal process to produce fair representation for all Oklahomans for another decade,” McCall said. “Oklahoma has a more than century-long track record of successful redistricting without any court determinations of improper gerrymandering. This process will maintain and improve upon that positive history.”

Every ten years, the Oklahoma Constitution requires each legislative chamber to redraw its own districts and congressional districts following the release of decennial U.S. Census data.

The 2020 census count ends Sept. 30 and final data will be delivered to states in spring 2021, at which point the Legislature is constitutionally required to enact a redistricting plan for the next decade.

A standing House Redistricting Committee will receive each regional subcommittee’s plan and be responsible for producing a statewide map for consideration by the full House in the 2021 legislative session.

McCall appointed Rep. Ryan Martinez, R-Edmond, as chairman of the Redistricting Committee. Appointed as vice-chairs were Rep. Emily Virgin, D-Norman, and Rep. Brad Boles, R-Marlow.

“The diverse, bipartisan leadership of the standing committee and regional subcommittees will listen to all Oklahomans and empower them to shape their districts fairly, legally and transparently,” McCall said.

The full Redistricting Committee will be appointed after the seating of the 58^th Legislature in November.

“Our job is to give the public an open forum to redraw their districts,” Martinez said. “Each House member represents nearly 40,000 Oklahomans on average, and by involving each House member directly, we are involving all Oklahomans more than ever before. I look forward to citizens really taking ownership of this process and telling us what they want in their districts.”

Following the 2010 Census, Oklahoma’s 101 House districts had a population target of 37,142 constituents per district. District populations are expected to grow after the conclusion of the 2020 Census.

“Oklahoma’s diversity is our strength. We will prioritize gathering all perspectives – urban, rural, age, gender, race, profession, socioeconomic status and many others – to produce House districts that truly represent Oklahoma,” Boles said.

To assist the redistricting committees, a House Redistricting Office has been established to provide technical support to the committees. As it was a decade ago, the office is comprised of nonpartisan, professional staffers with expertise in redistricting process, law, mapping and more.

“The House redistricting process ten years ago was generally well-received, and we are hopeful this one is, as well. Our Caucus will work to ensure fairness, transparency and accountability in redistricting, and we appreciate Speaker McCall’s bipartisan approach to this matter to date,” Virgin said.

House members whose districts fall in multiple regions may choose one regional subcommittee to serve on for the purposes of voting on regional maps. Once these selections are made, final subcommittee lists will be released.

While members can serve on one subcommittee only for voting purposes, they can participate in any regional subcommittee’s public input activities as they see fit based on the needs and requests of constituents.

Tentative regional subcommittee membership is as follows: