A group vowed to refile Initiative Petition 420 to create an independent redistricting commission after the Supreme Court of Oklahoma announced their ruling against the policy. 

 “This proposal has been misleading and overly-complicated from day one, and we are pleased the court recognized that by striking it down,” said House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka. “The proposal is a solution in search of a problem given that courts have never found impermissible gerrymandering to have occurred in Oklahoma. We are continuing to move forward with the House’s proven redistricting process that involves the entire state, strictly adheres to the law and won bipartisan praise when last used a decade ago.”

 “The court made the right call. Regardless, we’ve remained focused throughout on developing a redistricting plan that will help us do our job well. We are setting up a process that will allow us to work efficiently and effectively once we receive data from the 2020 Census,” said Senator Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle and chair of the Senate Select Committee on Redistricting.

 “ As I have said before, the Senate will handle this job in a professional and thorough manner. The Senate will announce more details soon about its redistricting process,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City.

Legislative redistricting takes place every 10 years following the release of U.S. Census data. The state Constitution provides that each legislative chamber oversees redistricting efforts to ensure districts are updated as necessary to reflect any population changes.

“We appreciate the Court recognizing what we knew to be true all along – that our petition is constitutional. “While this ruling changes nothing about our movement, we will follow the Court’s helpful guidance in rewriting the gist and we will refile our petition immediately,” said Andy Moore, Executive Director of People Not Politicians.