Senate Democrats Prove Mary Easley Lives In District She Represents; Official Locator In Error

Senate Democrats today produced proof that Senator Mary Easley, contrary to an "official" Legislative Service Bureau (LSB) locator that shows her home address in another Senate district, does indeed live in the district she represents.

The "conundrum," so described by the executive director of Oklahoma Senate Democrats, Owen Shackelford, presented itself when, following our series of stories last week about Easley's residence being listed as outside her district, Shackelford and others began digging into the district line question. Easley herself, inexplicably, refused to discuss her place of residence last week. Her reticence, perhaps, could have been fueled by the controversy during last year's election when she was accused of moving out of the district into Owasso. The move to Grand Lake Towne apparently was her second in recent months.

Shackelford today produced Easley's voter registration card, which shows she registered at 106 South Cherokee Lane, Ketchum, Mayes County, last October 2nd. But Easley herself lists the address officially as 106 South Cherokee Lane in Grand Lake Towne, a separate entity. To make matters more confusing, Easley's voting place is the Langley (another town) town hall. And Ketchum is in another Senate district and another county (Craig County, even though her voter ID card shows Mayes County).

Working with Shackelford and his associate Ward Curtin, The McCarville Report Online examined about a dozen maps and consulted with the Mayes County Election Board. Curtin and Shackelford located the state's official list of Senate and House district counties and towns within them, prepared and maintained by Republicans in the State House, and the list notes that Ketchum is in Craig County, Senate District 29 (John Ford), and that nearby Grand Lake Towne is in Mayes County, Senate District 18 (Easley).

A detailed map located by Curtin shows the county dividing line to be just north of South Cherokee Lane in Grand Lake Towne and the distance apparently is quite close; that could account for the "official" state locator site giving the wrong Senate District when asked.

TMRO asked the Legislative Service Bureau for clarification or an explanation as to why their "official" locator gives the wrong Senate district for 106 South Cherokee Lane in Grand Lake Towne, but have had no response. (In working this story today, we also encountered another instance in which an address clearly in one Senate district shows as being located in a different Senate district.)

The confusion over Easley's address, and it being shown in a Senate district other than her own, raises questions about the accuracy of the LSB locating system, to which many turn for "official" information. The LSB legislative locator is designed to provide specific Senate and House district numbers for anyone who inputs a street address.

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