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Tulsa redistricting commission considers plans

Tomorrow, September 24, 2021, the City of Tulsa Election District Commission will hold a special meetingto consider a set of five proposed plans for redrawing Tulsa's city council district boundaries for possible presentation for public comment. The proposed plans were assembled by mapping staff at the Indian Nations Council...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 23, 2021 5:27 PM

2019 Census estimate changes congressional reapportionment projections

New population estimates indicate that Texas may gain three seats and Florida two seats in the US House of Representatives after next year's US Census, while New York and California may lose a seat each. A handful of other states, mainly in the West and Sun Belt are projected to...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 3, 2020 12:06 AM

2017 Tulsa election: Proposition 5: Mayor picks redistricting panel

The fifth of the seven charter change propositions on the City of Tulsa November 14, 2017, ballot would change the makeup and responsibilities of the Election District Commission, which redraws the City Council district lines after each Federal decennial census. A yes vote on Proposition No. 5 would expand the...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 8, 2017 8:18 PM

Oklahoma historical congressional district maps

I've been watching politics for a very long time, going back to my childhood, so it's funny to observe the media's new-found concern about gerrymandering -- the practice of manipulating election district boundaries to benefit one party over another. The media's concern seems to have emerged with the growing dominance...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 16, 2016 3:18 PM

Gerrymandering in the animal kingdom

A whimsical, but nonetheless sophisticated, explanation of gerrymandering, including the flaws with several approaches to reform. It's a useful guide to what happened in Oklahoma with the legislature under Democrat control in the past and happened again this year under the Republicans, complete with weaselly consultant. Watch the right side...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 21, 2011 12:20 AM

Final Tulsa redistricting hearing tonight; back the alternative plan

The final public hearing on the proposed redrawing of City Council lines will be tonight (May 31, 2011) at 7 pm at the Central Center at Centennial Park, on 6th Street west of Peoria, just east of downtown. (Here is the Tulsa World story on the topic, and here is...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 31, 2011 5:38 PM

Oklahoma Senate redistricting: Five senators carved out of their districts

The Oklahoma Senate redistricting plan, drawn up by political consultant Karl Ahlgren, will move five incumbent state senators -- two Democrats and three Republicans, including the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee -- out of their own districts, according to a BatesLine analysis of the new boundaries. A BatesLine geocommons...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 13, 2011 11:24 AM

Oklahoma House, Senate redistricting plans online

The proposed boundaries for the new Oklahoma State House districts have been online since Friday, but the maps lacked any street detail that could be used as a point of reference. In response to my request, the Speaker's Office sent me the GIS data and a data table assigning each...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 12, 2011 12:04 AM

Oklahoma congressional redistricting -- only minor tweaks

Legislative redistricting is still in progress, and congressional redistricting isn't due until next year, but the Oklahoma House already has a plan for altering the congressional lines to rebalance population to fit the 2010 census -- HB 1527. Only a handful of precincts will change hands. This is the least...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 18, 2011 9:43 PM

Tulsa council redistricting draft plans

The City of Tulsa's Election District Commission has released five City Council redistricting plans (click to open the PDF) drawn up by Indian Nations Council of Government staff. The city must redraw the lines to produce districts of nearly equal population, based on the 2010 federal census. Although the city's...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 11, 2011 5:52 PM

Oklahoma census data: The State House map

The redistricting committee of the Oklahoma House of Representatives has set up a redistricting webpage with some interesting summary data that they will use to redraw the lines for their chamber of the State Legislature. They provide a very helpful link to the U. S. Census Bureau's Redistricting Data Office,...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 8, 2011 12:45 AM

Boundary confusion

Congratulations to Holly Richardson, aka Holly on the Hill, a conservative Utah political blogger, mom of 20, and political activist who was named by a special Republican convention to fill an unexpected vacancy in the Utah House of Representatives. The vacancy occurred because the recently re-elected incumbent representative discovered, while...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 30, 2011 8:11 PM

Redistricting listening tour, Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011

The Oklahoma House of Representatives will hold a session of its "Redistricting Listening Tour" in the Career Services Center auditorium of Tulsa Technology Center's Lemley Campus, 3420 S. Memorial, Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011, at 7 p.m. I hope to attend. Redistricting is a favorite topic -- it combines maps, math,...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 24, 2011 9:35 PM

2010 census apportionment data released

Math, maps, and politics come together in the decennial effort to enumerate the population of the United States and apportion political representation in accordance with those numbers. Today the Census Bureau released the official 2010 population for each state, with the calculated number of U. S. Representatives to be assigned...

Posted by Michael Bates on December 21, 2010 1:19 PM

Map monsters: "Gerrymandering 101"

"Zombie," a blogger known for documenting through photographs the nauseating obscenity of festivals and protests in the Bay Area, is documenting a political and geographical form of obscenity: The gerrymander, the deliberate drawing of district lines for political advantage. The first of two recent posts -- Gerrymandering 101 -- explains...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 14, 2010 12:12 AM

Rethinking redistricting

There's an effort in Indiana to "rethink redistricting". Here are the principles they espouse for fair redistricting: Keep communities of interest together Create more compact and geographically uniform districts Reduce voters' confusion about who represents them by following already existing political boundaries such as county and township lines Not use...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 6, 2010 11:02 PM