Coronavirus in Oklahoma: Initiative petition on redistricting clears one hurdle, but faces unclear future

The wording of an initiative petition calling for a public vote on the creation of a Citizens' Independent Redistricting Commission is legally adequate, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

That doesn't mean Oklahomans will necessarily get to vote on the issue in November.

In fact, what happens next is up in the air due to COVID-19.

"That is the question of the week," said Andy Moore, who heads the group advocating for State Question 810, which seeks to depoliticize the process of re-drawing Oklahoma's congressional and legislative districts, a process that takes place after every 10-year census.

The group that filed the challenge to the wording of the initiative petition has five days from the date the Supreme Court issued its opinion to ask for a rehearing, but after that things get murky in a hurry.

If no rehearing is requested or a rehearing is denied, the initiative petition would go to Secretary of State Michael Rogers who would ordinarily assign a 90-day window for petition backers to circulate the petition in an effort to obtain the 177,958 valid signatures of registered voters necessary to get the issue placed on the November ballot.

The law normally requires that the date to begin circulating petitions be set not less than 15 days nor more than 30 days from the date when all appeals, protests and rehearings have been resolved or expired.

Rogers, however, has placed the circulation of petitions on hold due to temporary restrictions on public activities established by the governor due to COVID-19, Moore said.

"We're not really sure what Secretary Rogers is going to do," Moore said. "He has put a hold ... on all signature collection in the state until the governor lifts the state of emergency declaration and we don't know when that's going to be."

Rogers could not be reached for comment Thursday. Amy Canton, the secretary of state's director of executive legislative services, sent an email citing the law that requires the secretary of state to set a date to begin circulating petitions that is 15-30 days after appeals and other legal remedies had been exhausted.

Time is of the essence, Moore said.

"If he changed the rules and let us get out there, we might have time to get it done to where it could get on the ballot this year," he said. "It would be tight."

Moore said he has received an outpouring to support since the state supreme court ruling that makes him believe that might be possible.

"We've been exploring how we could do it safely," he said, adding that he has looked at other states where the people circulating petitions have worn personal protective equipment and used single-use pens.

"So, I think it's possible, but probably not likely," Moore said.

Working to get the issue on a later ballot and other possibilities are also under discussion, he said.

"There is an X-factor out there where the Trump administration has asked for the census process to be delayed, including the step where they would give the census data back to the states," he said. "So it would basically delay redistricting by a few months. Congress hasn't acted on that yet, but I think there's a lot of different timeline scenarios that we're trying to work through.

"I will say definitively that we are still committed to this cause and believe that having an independent commission of Oklahoma citizens draw the lines is better than politicians," he said.

Redistricting is currently done by the Oklahoma Legislature.

The proposed state question would amend the Oklahoma Constitution in an attempt to prevent partisan gerrymandering.

It would create an independent nine-member redistricting commission made up of three persons from the state's largest political party, three from the next largest political party and three who would not be affiliated with either party. A panel of retired judges designated by the state's chief justice would select pools of applicants from each group then choose the commissioners by lot from each group.

People who have held partisan political offices within the last five years and their immediate families and people who have served as lobbyists within the last five years and their immediate family members would be among those prohibited from serving as commissioners.

For purposes of redistricting, people who are incarcerated would be counted in their home communities rather than the communities where they are incarcerated.

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