OK Senate redistricting meetings begin next week

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Senate’s series of statewide redistricting town hall meetings gets underway next week with meetings in Ada and Chickasha. The Senate and Oklahoma House of Representatives are partnering together with each chamber hosting a series of meetings the next several weeks at sites across the state in an effort to solicit input and inform citizens about the redistricting process.

The first Senate-hosted meeting will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Ada in the Seminar Center of the Pontotoc Technology Center. The second Senate meeting will be at 6 p.m. Thursday in Chickasha in the Community Building at the Grady County Fairgrounds. Each meeting will follow the pandemic protection protocols of the facility hosting the meeting.

“The Oklahoma Senate is committed to an open and transparent redistricting process and our series of town hall meetings across the state will help us inform citizens about redistricting,” said Senator Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle and chair of the Senate Select Committee on Redistricting. “I encourage Oklahomans to participate in this series of meetings to learn more about redistricting.”

At each redistricting meeting, presenters will provide an overview of the legislative redistricting process and cover redistricting principles. The public also will have the chance to comment on the redistricting of legislative districts and congressional districts. The collaboration between the Senate and the House means the public at each meeting can share input on either House or Senate redistricting. Additionally, the public can submit redistricting comments via email to the Senate at [email protected].

Meetings will be livestreamed when possible. The ability to livestream is dependent upon the reliability of the internet connection and technical capabilities of the host facility. If the internet connection or technical capabilities of the host facility are not sufficient to livestream, meetings will be recorded and posted as archived video on the website of the chamber hosting the meeting. Archived videos of the meetings will be accessible by the public in the same manner other archived videos from each chamber are accessible.

The public can watch Senate and House meeting livestreams on the website of the chamber hosting the meeting, in the same manner other committee meetings and floor sessions are viewed. No password or log-in is necessary to watch meeting livestreams.

Dates, times and locations for other meetings can be found on the Senate and House websites.

The Legislature is constitutionally required every 10 years to redraw legislative and congressional district boundaries using the latest U.S. Census data.