Don’t subdivide North Dakota’s legislative districts
MINOT, N.D. — The redistricting plan North Dakota’s lawmakers will consider in special session next week includes two subdivided House districts.
Currently, there are three state lawmakers who represent every district. One is a senator; two are representatives. They’re all elected to the same terms from the same geographical area.
The proposed plan takes two of those districts that encompass some of our state’s tribal communities and subdivides them. Districts 4 (around the Fort Berthold reservation) and 9 (near Turtle Mountain) would each have one senator that represents the entire district, but each representative would only represent a portion of the district.
This subdivision is intended to help the tribal communities elect one of their own to the Legislature.
As a practical matter, it “helps” our Native American friends by allowing them to vote for only two members of the Legislature while the citizens living in every other legislative district get to vote for three.
