Redistricting in Wyoming after the 2010 census

Note: Redistricting takes place every 10 years after completion of the United States Census. The information here pertains to the 2010 redistricting process. For information on more recent redistricting developments, see this article.

Redistricting in Wyoming

General information

Partisan control: Republican

Process: Legislative authority

Deadline: March 2012

Total seats

Congress: 1

State Senate: 30

State House: 60

This article details the timeline of redistricting events in Wyoming following the 2010 census. It also provides contextual information about the redistricting process and census information.

Process

See also: State-by-state redistricting procedures

During the 2010 redistricting cycle, the Wyoming State Legislature was responsible for redistricting, specifically handled by the Joint Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions Interim Committee, while the Governor of Wyoming had veto power. The Interim Committee's work was presented as a bill and moved through the legislature as regular legislation. Under guidelines adopted by the committee, the state kept its 30 senate and 60 house districts.

Section 3 of Article 3 of the Wyoming Constitution stated, in part, "Each county shall constitute a senatorial and representative district; the senate and house of representatives shall be composed of members elected by the legal voters of the counties respectively, every two (2) years."

Public Hearings

Informational meetings around the state were announced in mid-April 2011. Proposed plans and additional information could be found on Wyoming's 2011 Redistricting website.

Leadership

Committee Members

The members of the Joint Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions Interim Committee were:

Senate Membership:

• Cale Case (R) Chairman

• John Hines (R)

• Wayne Johnson (R)

• Marty Martin (D)

• Charles Scott (R)

House Membership:

• Peter Illoway (R) Chairman

• Gregg Blikre (R)

• James Byrd (D)

• Allen Jaggi (R)

• Kendell Kroeker (R)

• John Patton (R)

• Jim Roscoe (D)

• Lisa Shepperson (R)

• Tim Stubson (R)

Figure 2: This map shows Wyoming's legislative districts after the 2000 census.

Census results

On March 2, 2011, Wyoming received its local 2010 census data. The data guided the state as it redrew state and local electoral districts. Local data showed large gains in Hispanic populations and energy producing regions. The Hispanic population grew by almost 60% in the last ten years, and Gillette, spurred by coal-bed methane drilling, grew by 48%. Sublette County, a large player in the energy boom, grew by 73%. Although this growth didn't warrant an additional congressional seat, state lawmakers had to work to incorporate these population shifts as they redrew state-level maps.

Legislative redistricting

Summer 2011: Public input

The Joint Interim Committee on Corproations, Elections, and Political Subdivisions conducted hearings across the state throughout the summer of 2011. Those forums started with two meetings in Rock Springs and Pinedale.

On June 28, 2011, the committee held a redistricting hearing in Cheyenne. At the meeting, one proposed plan was made by Laramie County Clerk Debbye Lathrop. The plan dealt specifically with Laramie County.

October 2011: Committee adopts partial draft map

On October 21, 2011, the joint committee adopted a partial draft map for the state. The map placed Jeffery City and Dubois in the same district and gave Jackson a district almost entirely contained within the city. The map left districts in eastern Wyoming unknown as lawmakers considered two possible plans for the region, each offering different approaches for Campbell and Laramie Counties. The committee planned to resolve the issue in early December.

December 2011: Committee adopts full draft map

On December 6, 2011, the redistricting committee adopted a plan for redrawing the state's House and Senate districts. The plan raised constitutional questions for the state. Wyoming's senators are elected on staggered terms. Under the plan, two senators with different election schedules were drawn into the same district. Ultimately, the committee may have forced all 30 senators to run for re-election. Opponents of the plan objected to splits in Goshen County and the Star Valley.

January 2012: Committee revisits, approves draft map

On January 19, 2012, the redistricting committee approved a legislative redistricting plan to be considered by the full legislature in February.

February 2012: Committee approves amendment to draft

On February 14, 2012, the redistricting committee approved an amendment to the proposed redistricting plan that extendined District 10 northward to encompass the residence of Sen. Curt Meier (R).

February 2012: Maps pass state House

On February 17, 2012, the Wyoming House of Representatives passed a legislative redistricting bill for the state.The plan was approved 49-9. Although Republicans held a 50-10 majority, seven of the nine dissenting votes came from Republicans.

March 2012: Maps approved, signed into law

On March 1, 2012 the Wyoming State Legislature gave final approval to the state's new legislative districts. A House amendment to the bill preserving the seat of Sen. Curt Meier (R) was retained. The maps passed the Senate by a 28-2 margin and the House by a 51-8 margin. On March 6, Gov. Matt Mead (R) signed the bill into law.

• The approved plans can be found here.

Legal issues

April 2012: Lawsuit filed

A group of Wyoming citizens filed a lawsuit challenging the state's legislative redistricting plans. They argued that the plans did not give sparsely populated counties adequate representation. In addition, the residents claimed that the map split more county lines than necessary. The suit was filed with the State Supreme Court.

History

2001 redistricting history

Following a 1991 federal court decision, a Wyoming Constitution provision requiring one each state Senator and state Representative per county was struck down, requiring a new map to be drawn in 1992. Previously, the rule had led to double-digit deviation from equal districts in both chambers.

Still, the size of the legislature remained at 30 Senators and twice as many Representatives. In 2001, the Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee set to redraw those boundaries, with a target to have a complete draft by September 2001 and a final plan ready for the full legislature by February 2002. At the time, there was pressure both to return to single-member districts and uncertainty over how the scheduled 2004 introduction of term limits would affect redistricting.

Wyoming's ideal districts were at 8,230 for the House and 16,459 for the Senate. At the outset, nine Senate and 33 House districts fell outside the +/- 5% accepted deviation. Midway through May 2001, the Joint Committee approved nine guidelines for redistricting, including a ban on considering legislators current addresses for the sake of protecting incumbents and a preference to create contiguous seats wherein each Senate district corresponded to two House seats. A tenth provision, instructing lawmakers to consider both single- and multi-member districts was not approved.

In late August 2001, four potential maps were publicly presented. On November 1, 2001, Gov. Jim Geringer announced he would convene the legislature ahead of the set February 11, 2002, session to address, among other special items, redistricting. At the same time, Geringer expressed his desire to see multi-member districts, reasoning that such a design would encourage more people to run.

A detailed plan was ready by early January 2002 and when the legislature convened the following month, House Bill 75 passed on its first reading while amendments that would have reversed some district changes were defeated. In the Senate, a proposal to have Senators draw straws to determine who ran in what year won, even though it meant some would have six-year terms and some only two.

The redistricting bill became law on March 6, 2002, after Gov. Geringer chose to neither sign nor veto the legislation. The plan became law without his signature by default. Geringer said he did not sign the bill over what he called splitting communities of interest.

Deviation from Ideal Districts

2000 Population deviation
Office		Percentage
Congressional Districts		N/A
State House Districts		9.81%
State Senate Districts		9.51%
Under federal law, districts may vary from an Ideal District by up to 10%, though the lowest number achievable is preferred. Ideal Districts are computed through simple division of the number of seats for any office into the population at the time of the Census.

Ballot measures

The following measures have appeared on the Wyoming ballot pertaining to redistricting.

• Wyoming Redistricting, Amendment A (1996) d

See also

• State Legislative and Congressional Redistricting after the 2010 Census
• State-by-state redistricting procedures

External links

• Wyoming 2011 Legislative Redistricting
• Wyoming Redistricting 2011-2012 (State presentation on the redistricting process)