Drawing board:

Plan would depoliticize redistricting

May 13th, 2007

Sunday Oklahoman Editorial

ISRAEL is only nine miles wide at its narrowest point, due to brokered border decisions. For the same reason, one legislative district in Oklahoma has a waistline of only six miles. That's not unusual for a densely populated area, but House District 41 slithers from Yukon to north of Enid.

This, says the Oklahoma Coalition of Independents, is a prime example of Oklahoma-style gerrymandering.

Elbridge Gerry, an early governor of Massachusetts, is the namesake for the practice of configuring electoral districts in order to gain a partisan edge. As the story goes, Gerry reluctantly signed a legislative reapportionment plan that included a district that a cartoonist portrayed as reptilian or amphibian — thus the term combining "Gerry” with "salamander.”

The coalition says it's time to take redistricting out of the swamp of politics and place it on higher ground. An independent commission made up of retired judges would do the heavy lifting.

Redistricting occurs every 10 years following the census. The next one is especially important: It likely will produce the first truly urban Legislature in state history.

Removing at least some of the politics from redistricting has the potential to be as revolutionary as the legislative term-limit law. Like that law, the independent commission idea could go before voters. Citizens would have to be convinced that something needs fixing. According to coalition, here are some things that are broken:

• Sixty-two of the 125 seats up for election in 2006 drew no opposition.

• Three-quarters of primary races for legislative seats went unopposed.

• The average margin of victory for state Senate races in the general election was 28 percentage points; for the House it was 24.

With the present system, politicians can pick and choose precincts to keep their seats safe. Political parties also play the game, cherry picking according to voter trends.

Uncompetitive races are the norm for congressional seats as well, and gerrymandering is not uncommon. At one time, the congressman for the 5th District, deemed the "Oklahoma City seat,” included downtown Bartlesville but not downtown Oklahoma City. That area was placed in the 6th District — which stretched from here to New Mexico.

Twelve states use some form of an independent commission. This presumably results in districts that make more sense geographically and avert prolonged political battles that too often end up in court.

State Rep. Ryan McMullen, D-Burns Flat, is a champion of the independent commission idea, but he hasn't been able to persuade his colleagues. Proposed is a vote of the people in this state that stretches 330 miles from east to west and 235 from north to south.

We think it's time to expand our options for redistricting.

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Oklahoma Coalition of Independents
P.O. Box 950
Norman, OK 73070
Phone: 405-370-3431