Setting boundaries

Representatives from the northeast of Wyoming met on Thursday to address redistricting in Crook, Weston and Campbell counties.

This process will redefine the boundaries of each voting district across the state, which in turn dictates which citizens each legislator is responsible for.

The informational session was an opportunity for the Legislative Service Office to walk officials through the basics of the process and for members of the public – and elected officials – to provide initial input.

Keeping Counties Whole

Senator Ogden Driskill, who chaired the meeting, expressed early on that his desire in the northeast region will be to keep the smaller counties as whole as possible. His preference, he said, would be for Crook County in its entirety to form the basis of one district, and for the same to occur with Weston County.

This differs from the current situation, which splits Weston County in half and places the northern section into a district with Crook County and the southern portion with Niobrara.

Representative Chip Neiman commented that he agrees with this sentiment. Of the people he's spoken to, he said, all have stated that Weston County would love to be whole – and with Campbell County growing, this may be just the opportunity to do that.

The Redistricting Process

Redistricting occurs every ten years to address geographical changes across Wyoming. It works on the "one man, one vote" principle as decreed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In other words, every person's vote should have exactly the same weight and importance, which cannot be achieved if legislative districts differ in size. If one legislator represents 1000 people and another represents 10,000 people, then those in the first group have a much louder voice.

To achieve this, the perfect situation would see every House district contain 9614 people, which would divide Wyoming into 60 equal portions. Unfortunately, it's virtually impossible to be quite that accurate, so the aim of the redistricting process will be to achieve district sizes within 10% of that number.

This process is repeated every ten years as the national census results are finalized, because plenty can change over the course of a decade and a district can find itself well outside the 10% leeway. Since the 2010 census, said Danielle Creech of the Legislative Service Office, the state has grown 2.3% (or by about 13,000 people) and nine counties have increased in population while 14 counties have declined.

Thursday's meeting concentrated specifically on Crook, Weston and Campbell counties.

"As of now, we're trying to redistrict those three counties and the real heart of it is...how we go about doing that?" asked Driskill.

The principles being used for the 2020 redistricting process, said Creech, include that districts should be contiguous, compact and reflect a community of interest; and that county boundaries and census blocks should be followed as much as possible.

The plan should also avoid diluting the voting power of minorities (which would violate the Voting Rights Act); that the House shall have 60 seats and the Senate shall have 30 seats; consideration should be given to two contiguous House districts in each Senate district; and significant geographical features should be considered when establishing districts.

Dividing Campbell

Because the "one man, one vote" principle also rules out the possibility of dividing Wyoming along county lines, many counties will need to be divided in some way. Driskill explained that he would prefer the boundaries of the Crook and Weston districts to cross over into Campbell County.

The alternative would essentially be for Campbell County to dominate the decision and dictate how Crook and Weston are split.

Driskill shared his initial plan, which would see Crook County join with the northeastern section of Campbell (comprised of two voting districts), which would create an "almost ideal" district of approximately 9263 people. It would also see Weston County join the southeastern part of Campbell County (up to but not including Wright, which Driskill said he feels is "an integral part of Campbell County, in my opinion"), creating a district of 9263 people.

While there was significant support for Driskill's idea in the room, this was just the first meeting of the process and ideas may evolve significantly before the boundaries are finally drawn. The next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday in Campbell County, where the desires and thoughts of local officials in that county were likely to be focused on more strongly.