The Tribal Council’s 5-district map was approved Aug. 17 by CN District Judge Bart Fite. Each district will have three councilors. MAP COURTESY OF CN TRIBAL COUNCIL HOUSE 




By CHRISTINA GOOD VOICE
Senior Reporter 

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – District Court Judge Bart Fite issued a final judgment Aug. 17 approving the Tribal Council’s redistricting map with five districts.

Councilors approved an act July 12 lowering the number of voting districts within the Cherokee Nation’s 14-county jurisdiction from nine to five for the 2011 tribal election. It also calls for three councilors per district. 

The CN Constitution requires councilors to establish representative districts within the tribe’s boundaries, Tribal Council Speaker Meredith Frailey said.

“Fifteen of those seats shall be apportioned to afford a reasonably equal division of citizenship among the districts, and two shall be elected at-large by those registered voters residing outside the boundaries…” she said. 

Principal Chief Chad Smith signed the act into law shortly after it was passed.

“Having five voting districts means that our Cherokee communities are not split up into different districts (and) that every Cherokee citizen within our boundaries will have an equal number of council members,” Smith said, “and that those council members have an incentive to work together for the communities they represent.”

Frailey said Fite made a fair and well-informed ruling on the plan.

“He avoided wading into the redistricting battle out of respect and deference to the separation of powers of the three branches of government that govern the Cherokee citizens,” she said. “He made a great effort in interpreting the constitutionality of the act.” 

Smith said having five districts keeps communities together and gives each citizen in those communities three councilors to represent them instead of one or two.

The three councilors in each district will represent their area and work together, much like the councilors in multi-seat districts do now, Smith said. 

“If every council member had their own district, they might not work together as much and would have less reason to focus on what’s good for the whole Cherokee Nation,” he said.

Councilors discussed three redistricting concepts in July. One plan contained nine districts; one called for 15 districts; and the other was the five-district plan.

“Many Tribal Council members preferred 15 districts because they considered it met the one-person, one-vote standard more than the nine- and five-district plans,” Frailey said. 
“However, after comparing the merits of the three plans, the five-district (with three councilors per district) plan was approved.” 

On its face, the five-district plan appears to be unconstitutional because some districts have more than a 10 percent population difference than other districts, Fite wrote in his judgment. 

In a June ruling, he ordered the CN Election Commission to conduct apportionment of CN citizens by June 30 and for the council to establish districts based on that apportionment. 

The court also found that citizenship numbers as of May 22, 2009, revealed the apportionment of the tribe’s nine districts as currently drawn was unconstitutional, and the variances from the optimal citizenship number per district exceed 10 percent. 

But Fite notes exceptions to the 10 percent rule apply when the redistricting entity has made a good faith effort to comply with the one person-one vote rule. 

“In such instances, deviations from the strict population equality are permissible when they are justified by legitimate considerations…,” he wrote. 

In the final judgment, Fite said the council and Smith worked together to the greatest extent possible to arrive at an agreement as to the number of districts, and districts were drawn to keep like communities with similar social, economic and developmental interests together.

“A majority of the Tribal Council has agreed to the redistricting plan and the Principal Chief signed the same … allowing the upcoming 2011 election to go forward in a timely manner,” Fite wrote. 

Now councilors, the CNEC and the administration are developing a plan to educate citizens on the new five-district plan, Frailey said. 

“The (Tribal Council) will consider legislation designating the three seats in each of the five districts during the August Rules Committee (meeting,)” Frailey said. “This is important because of the staggered term requirement. Certain seats will be open for election in the 2011 election and certain seats in the 2013 election.”

Frailey said time is a concern, but the CNEC has started planning and would be ready for the 2011 election. 

“They already have the precincts organized and commitments from workers for the precincts,” Frailey said. “Tribal Councilors have begun informing their constituents on the five-district plan.”

Although the plan is approved and will take effect for the 2011 election, the act allows for reconsideration of the plan after a consistent methodology is available as a result of more quality and consistent data provided by the 911-address process.

“The districting plan is not about who gets an extra seat for their district, it is about what is best for the Cherokee Nation,” Frailey said. “Both the executive and legislative branches of the Cherokee Nation consider this act best for serving the citizens of the Cherokee Nation as a whole.”

CNEC officials said they had no comment regarding Fite’s final judgment. 
 

christina-goodvoice@cherokee.org • (918) 207-3825