Members of the Lawton Redistricting Commission have postponed a public hearing they scheduled next week in order to restudy data associated with City Council ward boundaries.
Commissioners originally had scheduled a meeting for 2 p.m. Dec. 1 to solicit public comment on a proposed map that changes the boundaries of Lawton’s eight council wards. Those wards are realigned every 10 years in response to population counts conducted by the federal census, to keep populations in each ward “substantially” equal (within 10 percent). The work is done by the Lawton Redistricting Commission, a standing body that also can make adjustments to wards in non-Census years.
Commissioners still will meet Dec. 1, but it will be to re-examine its preferred option. City planners said there are some inaccurate numbers in the map selected by commissioners, so they wanted the commission to re-examine that data before taking a map to the public for comments. The public hearing will be rescheduled.
Commissioners met earlier this month to examine three options presented by city planners and the IT Department. Based on a population of 76,752 (Lawton’s population, minus populations at Fort Sill and Lawton Correctional Center), the ideal ward population is 9,594.
The option selected on a 4-3 vote has a variance of 9.18 percent between the largest and smallest wards, and splits Precincts 2, 26, 31 and 32 (meaning, those precincts are in two wards). The option recommended by city staff, which failed on a 3-4 vote, had the least variance (4.02 percent between largest and smallest wards) and splits three precincts (Precinct 2 in west Lawton and Precincts 31 and 32 in east Lawton).
But, that option drew criticism from some commissioners because it relocates a number of people from wards they have been members of for decades, action that drew residential anger when it happened a decade ago. City administrators said redistricting guidelines direct commissioners to look at facts such as communities of common interest while avoiding decisions that dilute minority populations.
In addition, although the situation may not be used as an argument for discounting a map, the staff’s recommended map would make new Ward 2 Councilman Kelly Harris a one-term councilman because his neighborhood would be moved from Ward 2 to Ward 5. Harris could keep his seat after the boundaries are set into effect in 2022 because he already would be a councilman, but he could not seek re-election in three years because he won’t be a resident of Ward 2. State statutes and city charter provisions say wards may not be configured to protect or defeat an incumbent.
