An Oklahoma group is mounting a ballot effort to prevent the state’s legislature from redrawing congressional boundaries for their own benefit, a process known as gerrymandering.
Redistricting work is expected to begin after the 2020 census, but as Oklahoma Watch reports, a group called Represent Oklahoma is trying to put a stop to the effort. Represent Oklahoma has launched a website and set up a $400,000 fundraising goal, in hopes of putting a state question on this year’s state ballot.
The ballot question would let voters decide whether an independent, nonpartisan commission should be put in charge of the redistricting effort, rather than letting Oklahoma’s GOP-led Legislature draw the maps. In recent years, federal courts have decided in numerous cases that lawmakers have disenfranchised voters by re-drawing districts to favor their own re-election.
