North Dakota lawmakers tasked with reapportioning the Legislature are looking at adding two new districts in the oil patch counties of McKenzie and Williams, the fastest-growing counties in the U.S. in the last decade.
They'll also consider a district joining rural Burleigh County with Emmons County, with the fast-growing Bismarck bedroom community of Lincoln as the largest community of the district.
The Legislature's 16-member Redistricting Committee has been reviewing concept maps in its series of rapid-fire meetings to draft a new map to be approved in a special session in November. Mapmakers say they're relying on county lines, American Indian reservation boundaries, major roadways and communities to guide their work.
A full draft plan could be out this week, with opportunity for public comment, said chairman Rep. Bill Devlin, R-Finley. Lawmakers are aiming for 16,576 people per district, or the state's population divided by the 47 legislative districts. They are using 2020 census data, and plan to wrap up later this month. The coronavirus pandemic delayed the census data, compressing the mapmaking schedule.Â
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Rep. Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson, presented his western North Dakota map to the panel last Wednesday, a concept he said had to address "a combination of rapid growth, stagnation and low-population counties."Â
His map came up with district populations slightly lower than the target but leaves room for future growth, he said.Â
"I believe that a few of these counties are going to grow substantially over the next 10 years, and I'd rather have those on the lower end of the spectrum in terms of population so that they can be fairly represented in the years to come," Lefor said.Â
The area is a unique one, with oil boom growth in the Dickinson and Watford City areas and sparse populations in five counties -- such as Slope, population 706 in an area the size of Rhode Island.
Rep. Mike Nathe, R-Bismarck, said "in this game, the numbers tell us where to go. It's just a matter of what we do when we get there, and that's exactly how this is playing out."
He presented Bismarck-Mandan concepts last Wednesday, including sketches for districts that swelled in population and now need whittling. Bismarck-area District 7, for instance, grew 61%.
"We had to move the lines around to get to the optimum numbers that we're supposed to get to," the two-time mapmaker said. He feels "pretty good" about the concepts.
Sen. Nicole Poolman, R-Bismarck, told the panel to consider the state's central corridor when drawing maps from the east and west, so central counties aren't "squished."
"That's, I think, the overarching goal, is to honor county lines as much as we can, and it just is getting stickier in the central part because they've been trying to honor county lines in these other concepts," she said.Â
She presented a configuration that combines rural Burleigh County with Emmons County, making Lincoln the largest city in the district. Lincoln grew 77% from 2010-20, to 4,257 residents.Â
"This is really about throwing out a number of concepts so that we can find the best one," Poolman said.Â
Sen. Erin Oban of Bismarck, one of two Democrats on the Republican-dominated panel, has "played around a lot" with the mapping software. She's worked from all corners of the map, emphasizing existing boundaries, chiefly county and reservation lines.
"I think those make sense to people," the former middle school math teacher said. "It is the counties who are responsible for elections, so I think if we take, as legislators, some of our own self-interest out of the picture, which I understand is difficult, but when we think about what makes sense to voters, what makes sense to the folks who run elections, those rank higher for me."
The panel, which meets Wednesday and Thursday at the state Capitol in Bismarck, is striving to maintain 47 legislative districts, which are each represented by one senator and two representatives. Tribal leaders have advocated for House subdistricts for Indian reservations.
Meeting livestreams are available at video.legis.nd.gov. Concept maps are available at bit.ly/3zi1dr1.
The public can give comment on the redistricting plan at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the Roughrider Room of the state Capitol. Email lcouncil@nd.gov to testify remotely or provide written comments.