County Works On Redistricting Proposal
The Roosevelt County Commissioners reviewed a proposal regarding redistricting the county’s three districts for commissioners.
Chair Gordon Oelkers noted the changes were needed because District I, which he represents, had 400 more people than the other two districts.
Clayton Vine, Roosevelt County GIS administrator, conducted detailed work to come up with the proposal.
One challenge was keeping the county districts in the same State House district.
District II, represented by commissioner Gary Macdonald, includes Poplar and some of Wolf Point. District III, represented by commissioner Robert Toavs, features most of Wolf Point and west of Wolf Point.
“We evened out the population the best we could without changing the legislative districts,” Toavs said.
The plan will be on the agenda at the commissioners’ next meeting for approval. If the proposal is approved, it will be sent to a judge for review.
With the change, the population changes to 3,791 for District 1, 3,420 for District 2 and 3,583 for District 3. The difference follows the state’s requirement to be within 10 percent of each district.
Based on an ACLU ruling, at least 51 percent of District 2 needs to be Native American. The amount of 2,351 is 68.7 percent.
