US House Redistricting: West Virginia

[Kevinstat]

Perhaps West Virginia should do what Arkansas did in 2001 (although they could have split counties in they're main plan then):  Adopt a map splitting no counties to satisfy the state constitutional requirement, but enact a backup plan moving territory in a couple counties between districts in case of a successful federal court challenge alleging vote dillution.

[Gravis Marketing]

Charleston legislators are opposing this effort to slash their county in two.

Really? "Slash"?

[Gravis Marketing]

Putting Putnam into WV-03 is dumb.

Why? Isn't the pay-off for making WV-01 more competitive worth it?

[MilesC56]

Putting Putnam into WV-03 is dumb.

Why? Isn't the pay-off for making WV-01 more competitive worth it?

If anything, WV-01 is now less competitive.

[Gravis Marketing]

Putting Putnam into WV-03 is dumb.

Why? Isn't the pay-off for making WV-01 more competitive worth it?

If anything, WV-01 is now less competitive.

Why do you say that? It picked up some Republican areas along the Ohio River, but lost some seriously Republican counties in the east of the state.

[krazen1211]

Charleston legislators are opposing this effort to slash their county in two.

Really? "Slash"?

Really. They seem to agree as they just went with the obvious flip 1 county plan.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WV_XGR_SPECIAL_SESSION_CONGRESS_WVOL-?SITE=WVHUN&SECTION=news&TEMPLATE=hddefault&CTIME=2011-08-04-12-40-24


West Virginia should move Mason County from its 2nd U.S. House District to its 3rd in response to the 2010 Census, a Senate committee decided Thursday, rejecting a more ambitious draft plan that swapped 19 counties among the three congressional districts.

The scuttled draft had also split Kanawha and Harrison counties between two districts for the first time. That and other elements of the draft incurred the wrath of Republicans, who hold the 1st and 2nd District seats.

But lawmakers from both parties had also signaled a reluctance to attempt the substantial changes championed by Senate Majority Leader John Unger, the redistricting committee's chair.

The draft created compact districts that were equal to or within one person of the ideal size of 617,665 residents. Both are key goals of redistricting. Thursday's amendment would result in districts that range within several thousand residents.

[Torie]

Plus ca change, plus ca meme chose.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

Another trifecta goes to waste...

[MilesC56]

Another trifecta goes to waste...

I would argue that this is better than the original plan.

Since the 1st stayed the same, we're still only 1400 votes away from flipping it...

[Sibboleth]

This was an interesting example of how things often end up working; a less than ideal status quo (the current map was drawn to screw a particular incumbent when the state lost a seat two decades ago and makes no real sense) is kept because any alternative are unpalatable.

[Gravis Marketing]

This was an interesting example of how things often end up working; a less than ideal status quo (the current map was drawn to screw a particular incumbent when the state lost a seat two decades ago and makes no real sense) is kept because any alternative are unpalatable.

cf. Massachusetts 4th district, likely to build on 30 years of insanity with the next remap.

[MilesC56]

Mike Oliverio had a say in the redistricting process.

http://blogs.wvgazette.com/squawkbox/2011/08/04/oliverio-keeps-eye-on-redistricting-session/

I talked to him a week ago and he didn't tell me any plans about running in 2012.

I do think he'll run again though; McKinley isn't entrenched yet and Oliverio would have stronger Manchin coattails this time around.

[Sibboleth]

I prefer it when WV grudge matches are kept mostly to primaries (Rahall/Hechler was a good one), but that would do as a substitute.

[Gravis Marketing]

Wasn't Oliverio virtually a teabagger himself?

[MilesC56]

Yeah, he's fairly conservative, but I'd say he's pretty close to Joe Manchin, ideologically. 

[nclib]

Didn't he [Oliverio] say he wouldn't even have voted for Pelosi?

[MilesC56]

He said he'd vote for "whomever his party chooses as its leader."

I guess that would be Pelosi, since she won the majority of the Democratic caucus.

[krazen1211]

http://www.rollcall.com/news/governor_signs_new_west_virginia_map-208223-1.html

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed West Virginia’s Congressional redistricting bill into law Thursday morning, the Democrat’s spokesman told Roll Call.

The new lines leave the state’s three districts, represented by two Republicans and one Democrat, almost identical for another 10 years.

[MilesC56]

Good, they played it safe.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

I still think they should have been more aggressive. This is one of what, three states where Democrats have the trifecta? They already blew it in Arkansas. The Democrats had nothing to lose by reconfiguring the two northern districts in an attempt to unseat McKinley. What a waste.

[MilesC56]

I still think they should have been more aggressive. This is one of what, three states where Democrats have the trifecta? They already blew it in Arkansas. The Democrats had nothing to lose by reconfiguring the two northern districts in an attempt to unseat McKinley. What a waste.

Oliverio knows he can win WV-01. He had input. If he wanted the district changed, they would have been more 'aggressive.'

[MilesC56]

Looks like we'll have a new map. A three-judge panel ruled that the population devation of the enacted map was too great, even though it keeps all counties whole.

[Vasall des Midas]

:-/

At least they didn't tell'em to split counties.

[JohnnyLongtorso]

The judges' order says that the constitution doesn't prohibit splitting counties. I can't copy-paste from it, but it's here, specifically pages 12 and 13. So they may require them to split counties to achieve perfect population equality.

[muon2]

The WV legislature really pushed the courts on their map. The maximum deviation is just over 0.5% (3197) and it's not very compact. Since there are other ways of matching whole counties with a smaller deviation, it's not surprising that the court rejected it.

Here are a couple of alternatives that significantly improve on the passed map. Option A keeps the panhandle attached to Charleston. The maximum deviation is just under 0.2% (1231)



Option B puts Charleston with the south and the panhandle with Morgantown. That leaves a long district along the Ohio River. The maximum deviation here is 0.15% (930).