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West Virginia Redistricting Resulted In Simple Swap
By: Associated Press
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The complicated redistricting process prompted by population shifts resulted in one simple change in West Virginia's congressional districts.
After two legislative committees adjusted political district boundaries to ensure equal representation, and an ensuing lawsuit challenging the plan was dismissed, Mason County was moved from the 2nd to the 3rd congressional district.
A more ambitious draft plan that switched 19 counties among the three congressional districts was rejected.
The 2010 Census showed population growth in the Eastern Panhandle and the Morgantown area and declines in the southern coalfields and the Northern Panhandle.
West Virginia Wesleyan College political science professor Robert Rupp says that while state lawmakers avoided making wholesale swaps in district lines, he expects more dramatic changes after the 2020 Census.