Public Interest Guide to Redistricting

West Virginia's Redistricting
Information

West Virginia's Redistricting News

All information below is from early 2001

West Virginiaís Political Lineup

	1991	2001
Governor	D	D
State Senate	33D, 1R	28D, 6R
State House	74D, 26R	75D, 25R
US Senators	2D	2D
US Reps	4D	2D, 1R

Redistricting Deadline

None.

Whoís in Charge of Redistricting?

The legislature. The governor has veto power over both congressional and state legislative district plans.

Districting Principles

Principle	Congressional	State Legis.
Compactness	+	+
Contiguity	+	+
Political subdivisions	+	+
Communities of interest
Cores of prior districts
Protect incumbents
VRA ß 5

+ = required - = prohibited

Public Access

No public hearings are scheduled. There is a possibility that proposed plans will be posted on a website.

Political Landscape

West Virginia lost one U.S. House seat following the last redistricting cycle. This forced two Democratic incumbents to run against each other in the primaries. In 2001, the state will need to be redrawn significantly because of a major shift in population, with the 2nd congressional district picking up seats at the expense of the 3rd.

Legal Issues

West Virginia's congressional district plan was challenged on equal population grounds in 1992; the overall deviation from equality was 0.09 percent. The plaintiffs alleged that the legislature had no compelling reason for such deviations, but the federal court disagreed. The court found that the population deviations were necessary to preserve the inner cores of previous districts, a legitimate interest.

In 1993, the state legislative district plan was challenged in federal court on equal population grounds as well. The court refused to consider the plan's overall population deviation range of 9.97% as preliminary evidence of an equal protection violation. The court found for the defendants. The generally recognized legal threshold is 10%.

Irregularly Shaped District
District 2

… CenteróCharleston, Eastern Panhandle

… Democratic incumbent, but swing district

… Economically diverse

… 96% white; 3% black

Contact Information

Teresa Bowe

Legislative Analyst

Office of Legislative Services

Room E-132 State Capitol

Charleston, WV 25305

304/348-2040

304/347-4825 Fax

[email protected]

For more information:

National Committee for an Effective Congress' Redistricting Resource: West Virginia
-Overview

EMILY's List Congressional Redistricting Report: West Virginia
-Overview
-West Virginia Redistricting Chronicle

Glossary

Redistricting Provisions 2000

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Copyright © 2000 The Center for Voting and Democracy
6930 Carroll Ave. Suite 610 Takoma Park, MD 20912
(301) 270-4616 ____ [email protected]

Principle

Congressional

State Legis.