April 22, 2021
By News Director Jared Atha
The Oklahoma House and Senate unveiled new district maps on Wednesday for all 101 House and 48 Senate districts.
One major city in western Oklahoma will see a major change.
Under the proposed plan, Elk City will now be entirely in House District 55. The city was previously split between H.D. 55 and H.D. 57.
H.D. 57 Rep. Anthony Moore (R – Clinton) said although knowing he would lose Elk City voters with the change, he was very vocal at the state capitol in getting it done.
Moore says losing Elk City voters means he’ll have to gain voters elsewhere. According to the proposal, those voters would be, among other places, Washita County.
Because the 2020 census data has not yet been released, the maps released on Wednesday were drawn using data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2015-2019 American Community Survey. The ideal population was 38,939 for each House district and 81,935 for each Senate district, although state law allows for a variance of up to 5%.
The largest district is still House District 61 in the Panhandle and northwest Oklahoma, which grew from 7,981 square miles to 8,296 square miles. The smallest district is House District 93 in south Oklahoma City, which covers 6.21 square miles.
House Bill 1198, the bill containing the proposed House districts, begins the normal legislative process next week in the House State and Federal Redistricting Committee. It must be passed by the House and Senate and signed by the governor.
