The population growth in Northwest Arkansas will not only add new legislative seats in both the state House and state Senate, but also displace some legislators from districts formed 10 years ago.
Some well-known names and faces might not be representing some of the same towns and areas in their previous district.
Case in point, state Rep. Charlene Fite, R-Van Buren, who has for the last decade represented House District 80 that includes the cities of Prairie Grove and Lincoln and a large part of the rural areas of western and northwestern Washington County.
She will still have, if the proposed legislative maps approved this past Monday down in Little Rock after a public comment period has expired, a part of her old district in Washington County.
Rep. Fite, who has announced her re-election bid in this newspaper last week, will still have a large portion of western Washington County in the Morrow, Strickler area all the way to the Crawford County lines to the west and south. Fite is seeking re-election to the new House District 24, which includes more of Crawford County than was in the former House District 80 she has represented for the last 10 years.
Her old district, state House District 80 that included Prairie Grove and Lincoln and the rural northwest portion of Washington County, will get a new number in the redistricting process and will now be state House District 23.
Confusing, you bet it is.
A quick history lesson on redrawing these legislative lines goes back to the early membership of the state House and state Senate. Within the Arkansas Constitution are the limitations of membership in each chamber. The state Senate is set at 35 members, while there are to be 100 seats in the House.
Aa far back as the 1870s, there were and still are today 75 Arkansas counties. The House districts were numbered by county with each county getting at least one state House member. Larger more populous counties had what was called "multi-member" districts, i.e., two, three and even four House members in the same county. As time went on, these multi-member districts grew until laws were changed, and counties were split, pairing with other counties to help achieve the required number of citizens per each state House seat.
For example: In 1973, there were only 44 House Districts, yet there were 100 members of the state House.
Pulaski County, (Little Rock, North Little Rock) had 19 members in five districts within Pulaski County. Sebastian County, in the 1970s had six state House members; Washington County had two state House members, while Craighead County (Jonesboro area) had three state House seats.
Several court battles ensued over counties holding these "multi-member" districts as it was possible to elect state House members who lived in adjacent neighborhoods in the same city.
In 1983, after the 1980 Census, the arrangement of the state House Districts went to a full 100 – a separate state House District, per member.
There were state House members who represented only a small part of a county, and some who represented multiple counties and or parts of several counties, to achieve an equal share of citizens to form a state House district.
And after the 100-district rule was approved, only the changes in the population of the most recent U.S. Census can change these districts by either enlarging the district (if population is lost) or shrink the district (if there is a population gain).
Also, every decade after the reapportionment of these Districts, legislative Districts usually change numbers, flip-flopping from the previous decade. Thus, explains that old District 80 would now be District 23, to signify the changes of the 2020 Census and redrawing of the legislative lines.
Rep. Fite, who is the senior ranking woman in the state House and a two-time past committee chair in the House, has the seniority of current members, allowing her a first choice of committees.
Her influence for Washington County citizens will still be felt with the move to a new district as friendships and relationships she has made in the last decade will no doubt still be strong.