DEWAYNE HOLLOWAY|dewayne@mcnews.online
Montgomery County will see some changes in their state government representation according to maps released by The State of Arkansas’ Board of Apportionment.
The state Board of Apportionment recently released a set of interactive maps for the proposed House and State districts for the state legislature to improve transparency of the Board of Apportionment. A set of interactive proposed House and Senate district maps has been placed on the Board of Apportionment’s website.
These interactive maps will allow the public to input their home address to see street level detail of the proposed districts in their community. The maps also display the demographic composition of the proposed districts. The public may provide comments on specific areas of the maps. Once a comment is made, it will become part of the public record.
The map reflects a shift in the State Senate Districts with Montgomery County proposed to move to District 5 which would include Polk, Scott and Yell Counties, as well as parts of Pike, Sebastian, Logan, Perry and Pope Counties.
The remainder of Pike County would be a part of District 3 which would include Clark County and parts of Hot Spring, Hempstead, Nevada, Lafayette and Columbia Counties.
Montgomery County is currently in District 10 and is represented by State Senator Larry Teague.
The proposed map for State Representative Districts will have Montgomery County in District 86 which includes Polk and part of Northern Howard County. This is very similar to the current District, District 20, which is represented by John Maddox.
Pike County would be in proposed District 89 which would include parts of Clark, Hot Spring, Nevada, Ouachita, Hempstead, and Lafayette Counties.
The interactive maps can be found online at www.arkansasredistricting.org/maps-2/
About the Process The Board of Apportionment, consisting of the Governor, Secretary of State and Attorney General, was created in 1936 by Amendment 23 to the Arkansas Constitution. Over the next few months, the Board will be redrawing 100 House & 35 Senate Districts so that each district meets various legal criteria, including each district being about the same size in population. This “redistricting” is required by law once every 10 years after the Federal Census. The Board of Apportionment only “redistricts” the Arkansas House & Senate (Legislative Seats), not Congressional Seats – that is the responsibility of the Arkansas General Assembly
