Wyoming Legislature

Redistricting options proliferate
County clerks offer second statewide plan; other new options surface for Southwest Wyoming and Laramie County

       Wyoming’s legislative redistricting effort will take the stage again Monday with new plans added to the mix.
       Three more plans have been posted on the Legislature's website, including a new plan drawn up by the County Clerks and a new alternative plan for Southwest Wyoming drafted by two senators from the region. Both these new plans would eliminate the gerrymandered district created in 2002 that combined most of Sublette County, northern Lincoln County, and Wilson  and in Teton County. Officials from both Sublette and Teton counties dislike that combination and have pleaded with legislators that it be changed.
        A third new plan for Laramie County also has been posted on the Legislative Service Office's website.
        The Joint Corporations, Elections, and Political Subdivisions Interim Committee will work tomorrow and Tuesday (Dec. 5 and 6) in Room 302 at the Capitol to finalize its proposal to the Legislature. The redistricting discussion is begins at 11 a.m., according to the committee's agenda.
       Redistricting – the process of periodically redrawing district lines to equalize district populations – takes place every 10 years following the federal census. The 2010 Census revealed considerable growth in the energy boom counties, particularly Campbell and Sublette counties, and in Teton County. Those numbers also found that population had declined in other counties, mostly in northeastern Wyoming and the Big Horn Basin.
       Districts must shift accordingly, though legislators have considerable discretion in doing so.
   
       House District 22 in western Wyoming
       The committee has seen considerable tension around plans to redraw lines for what is now designated House District 22. Growth in Sublette County gives it more than enough residents to form a single House district within its boundaries. But Sublette County was involved in a “gerrymandering” imposed in 2002 when northern and eastern areas of the county, including Pinedale, were combined in a district extending from south Wilson in Teton County through northern Lincoln County, up the Hoback River to Bondurant and down the east side of the county.
       Wilson and Pinedale residents have been clear that they don’t share a significant community of interest and want to be separated.
       The latest proposal for the region posted on the LSO website again was developed by southwestern Wyoming Sens. Marty Martin, a Democrat, and Stan Cooper, a Republican. It severs Sublette County from Teton County to create the new House District 22. The plan combines Wilson with Afton in a new configuration of House District 21.
     
       Eastern Wyoming
       The new plan offered by the county clerks appears to carve a seat out of the eastern border counties and to give Campbell County five representatives (compared to four under the present system).  One of those districts is combined with northern Converse County. (Analyst's caveat: The plan appears to do this but this is a cursory comparison with other plans.)

       Co-Chairman Pete Illoway, a Cheyenne Republican, told the Associated Press that the committee could meet again in late December or January if does not finalize its work this week.

Redistricting plans enter last phase

Corporations Committee readies two state plans

       Wyoming’s legislative redistricting effort will take the stage again next week in what could be the last meeting of the committee given the task of  drawing new boundaries before the February session.
       Or it might not be the last meeting.  But the Joint Corporations, Elections, and Political Subdivisions Committee will work next Monday and Tuesday (Dec. 5 and 6) in Room302 at the Capitol to finalize its proposal to the Legislature.
       Redistricting – the process of periodically redrawing district lines to equalize district populations – takes place every 10 years following the federal census. The 2010 Census revealed considerable growth in the energy boom counties, particularly Campbell and Sublette counties, and in Teton County. Those numbers also found that population had declined in other counties, mostly in northeastern Wyoming and the Big Horn Basin.
       Districts must shift accordingly, though legislators have considerable discretion in doing so.
       As it did in 2001, the Legislature’s Management Council handed the job to the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Interim Committee. In its first big decision, the committee voted in April to maintain the current structure of the Legislature with 60 House seats and 30 Senate seats. It also adopted guiding principles that include respecting county lines as much as possible, keeping districts contiguous and as compact as possible, and recognizing “communities of interest” – though the committee has not specifically defined that term.
       Over the summer, the committee held more than a dozen community meetings around the state. Those meetings largely were attended by sitting legislators, county clerks, and county commissioners. Using a web-based tool made available on the Legislature’s website, various regional plans have been developed redrawing the lines. Most of the state’s county clerks got together and drew up a full plan for the state that had been the only complete plan available. But at its last meeting the committee itself put together those regional proposals, then made a few adjustments of its own. Two working proposals resulted and can be seen on the LSO website.
       The ESPC attended many of the meetings intent on making sure the committee sticks to the principle of one person, one vote, and that it maintains a legislative district in Fremont County created in 2002 which holds a majority of Native Americans. The federal Voting Rights Act protects significant minority populations, in this case Native Americans, by prohibiting dilution of their vote by splitting them up among several districts. The committee has adhered to both principles.

       Gerrymander in western Wyoming
       But there still has been considerable tension. Growth in Sublette County gives it more than enough residents to form a single House district within its boundaries. But Sublette County was involved in a “gerrymandering” imposed in 2002 when northern and eastern areas of the county, including Pinedale, were combined in a district extending from south Wilson in Teton County through northern Lincoln County.
       The Wilson and Pinedale residents have been clear that they don’t share a significant community of interest and want to be separated. One proposal to do just that would have redrawn district lines in a way that left the House District 20 representative outside the district.
       A counter proposal was developed by southwestern Wyoming Sens. Marty Martin, a Democrat, and Stan Cooper, a Republican. It maintains the district combining Pinedale with Wilson. The Corporations committee favored the Martin-Cooper plan when it met in October.
       It appears to be impossible, or nearly so, to divide the population of northwestern Wyoming without splitting counties. The Teton plan that ended the Wilson-Pinedale gerrymander requires maintaining an existing district the combines Dubois and parts of northern Fremont County with Teton County. There’s a relatively strong community of interest argument, however, since both those local economies rely heavily on tourism and recreation.
       The committee heard at a Lander meeting that Dubois wants to be connected to the rest of Fremont County. Subsequently, other legislators say there’s a substantial number of Dubois residents who favor the link to Teton County.
        There’s also a struggle over redrawing lines in northeastern and eastern Wyoming. Campbell County grew enough to add another House seat. Population declined in relation to the rest of the state elsewhere in the region, meaning a seat will likely shift. The question is how this will be done. Will the Legislature allow Campbell County to be relatively self-contained like Albany, Laramie and Natrona counties? Or will the Campbell population be carved away to maintain something closer to the status quo?
       The two committee proposals on the LSO site show distinctly different approaches to resolving these shifts in eastern Wyoming.
       Each of the various plans will make some happy and others angry. Part of the problem is that roughly 70 percent of the Census blocks in Wyoming have no one living in them in them at all. (Redistricting rules allow dividing counties, cities, towns, and precincts but prohibit splitting a Census block.) As a result, a few districts, just as they are now, will be bigger than some eastern states. One district that encompasses a large part of Carbon County will be stretched across Sweetwater County to Farson to bring the district up to the necessary population level. There’s a lot of empty Red Desert between Rawlins and Eden.

       Plenty of action ahead
       The committee could finalize its redistricting bill at the coming meeting or schedule a final meeting prior to the session.
        And the session may bring other proposals. In a budget session, non-budget bills require a two-thirds vote of approval for introduction in either the House or the Senate. But that’s not true of redistricting bills. Any member can bring a proposal to apportion the Legislature and introduce it without a vote. Such bills likely will be referred to the Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee.

Redistricting tensions build

Committee ready to begin drawing lines

Redistricting will again have the full attention of the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Interim Committee today (Oct. 20) and tomorrow as it meets in Casper.

The implications of the re-drawing of legislative district lines have become clearer as more legislators, some in conjunction with their local officials, some not, put together plans for the committee to consider and eventually meld into a statewide plan.

The committee will take care of some other business Thursday morning then is scheduled to take up redistricting by 3 p.m. Co-chairman Sen. Cale Case said the committee’s anxious to get moving so may take it up earlier in the afternoon.

The committee is meeting at the UW Outreach Building, 951 N. Poplar Street, across from the Casper Planetarium.

The ESPC has tracked the committee as it has held community meetings across the state. As we noted in July following meetings in Rock Springs and Pinedale and later in the Big Horn Basin, the committee hears again and again that people identify strongly with their counties and want to keep the county “as intact as possible.”

That means they want to avoid seeing their county lumped in with people from other counties. It’s also request that the committee cannot deliver on. Wyoming’s population grew over the past decade and not in a consistent manner. Gillette saw a huge increase residents and the gas boom in the Green River Basin led to a near doubling of Sublette County’s population.

Other areas saw population declines.

There are now a dozen plans posted on the Legislature’s website. Most are regional or county plans. They do not mesh, so the committee will have to figure out who makes the best argument for “community of interest” – a term the committee has declined to define.

The County Clerks put up a plan for the entire state. It has been roundly criticized. The most recent was put up in the past few days by Rep. Jeb Steward of Carbon County. Steward has seen proposals that would run his district from the eastern boundary of Carbon County far to the west, taking in a subdivision north of Rock Springs and brining in Farson.

Geographically, it would be the largest House district in the state. Steward’s own plan still might be. It would take in Rock River in Albany County, Alcova in Natrona County, Jeffrey City in Fremont County and still pick up Farson.

The discussions today and Friday should prove quite interesting. The committee will begin deciding which plans and lines to adopt. Although this is the last scheduled meeting of the committee, the chairmen have said previously that it may be necessary to meet again prior to the February budget session.

Redistricting effort stirs local worries

'One person, one vote' standard must drive redistricting of Wyo Legislature

Local plans reflect different definitions of 'community of interest' concept

If "Not in My Back Yard” is the battle-cry of people who occasionally venture into the realm of public land planning, then “Leave Us Alone” or “Keep Our County Whole” are the battle cries heard most often when people consider redistricting the Wyoming Legislature.

Elected officials in Natrona and Albany counties already have submitted plans that would enable them to place all or nearly all their residents in state Senate and House districts lying wholly within their county lines.

Legislators and other public officials in the Big Horn Basin took the idea a step further July 12, when they told the Legislature’s Joint Interim Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee that they can keep their “unique” basin whole – so long as the committee follows their draft plan that would pick off nearly 800 Fremont County residents, who live in the Shoshoni and Lysite voting districts (also known as precincts).

The process of reconfiguring the boundaries of legislative districts is known as “reapportionment” or “redistricting.” The Legislature must redraw legislative district lines in the first budget session following completion of the decennial U.S. Census. Under the constitutional principle of “one person, one vote,” those districts must be nearly equal in population to ensure that each voter wields roughly equal power in legislative elections.

Population growth in some areas of the state and decline in others since the 2000 Census mean legislative district boundaries must change to reflect those shifts. Determining exactly how to change the lines is a political process that in the U.S. traditionally has been used by the party in control of the legislature to solidify the ability of its members to get elected both to Congress and the state Legislature.

But in Wyoming, there is only one Congressional district for the entire state, so there’s no opportunity to gerrymander districts. And in the Legislature, the Republican Party’s huge majorities in both the state House and Senate mean shifting district lines largely will affect GOP members.

The Interim Corporations committee adopted seven principles to guide its redistricting efforts. The key principle, known as the “range of deviation,” aims to abide by the principle of “one person, one vote” by keeping the difference in population of the highest population district in the state and the lowest population district within 10 percent. Other principles include following county boundaries as much as possible, keeping the majority of a county’s population in one district, recognition of significant geographic features, compactness, and combining “communities of interest.”

Many people have seized on the term “community of interest” to justify placing lines here rather than there. Since it started its series of 10 public meetings around the state to hear local concerns and plans for redistricting, the committee has been presented numerous interpretations of the concept.

Some who testified to the committee see “communities of interest” in economic terms. Others see it as rural versus urban, or as achieving balance between intra- and inter-party political interests. Although some local residents may feel strongly about these criteria, none of them are likely to stand up in a court case.

County clerks will draft a plan

When the committee met in Lander on July 13, Fremont County Clerk Julie Freese told the committee that the state’s county clerks will meet in August to draft their own proposal. The clerks hope to minimize the splitting of voting precincts. Freese said those splits can lead to confusion at the polls. A voter could be given a ballot that lists elections the voter cannot legally vote in.

With more splitting of precincts, she said, it becomes more likely a voter will get the wrong ballot “and that is called fraud.”

Challenge the deviation standard?

Big Horn Basin legislators also argued that the committee should consider exempting the Basin from the 10 percent deviation standard because they know more people will move there soon. They said an expected boom in tertiary oil production based upon CO2 injection and development of a new irrigation project will swell the Basin’s population, and that will take care of any problems with districts with too-few residents.

With its endorsement of a 90-member Legislature with 30 seats in the Senate, the committee forced some basic arithmetic: divide the 2010 Census population of Wyoming by 30 to find the ideal population for a Senate district: 18,788 people. With 60 seats in the House, the ideal population for a House district is 9,394. No district can exceed those numbers or fall below them by more than 5 percent. The most populous Senate district cannot have more than 19,727 people residing in it. The least populous House district cannot include fewer than 8,924 people.

The ESPC supports the deviation standard and opposes any exceptions. We will work to ensure that all Wyoming citizens have equal representation.

Members of the committee warned that a lawsuit will assuredly be filed if the standard, established through substantial court precedent, is ignored. The committee voted in April to support the deviation standard. Sen. Cale Case, one of the co-chairmen of the joint committee, warned against exceptions when the committee met in Powell. If the committee granted an exception to the deviation standard in the Big Horn Basin, people in other areas of Wyoming will expect similar treatment, he said.

The ESPC will stand strongly for the “one person, one vote” principle during the redistricting process. We want to make sure that your vote counts as much as your neighbor’s.

Plans posted on LSO website

The Legislative Service Office is making an excellent effort to provide information about redistricting. Proposed plans will be made available on the site if they are sponsored by a legislator. Four plans had been posted by Saturday afternoon (July 16) for Albany, Laramie, Natrona and Teton counties. State Rep. Hans Hunt has roughed out a statewide plan that also is available.

'One person, one vote' means change

Tensions arise with first proposals for new district lines

Teton County proposal will ripple across southwest Wyo legislative districts

By Dan Neal

A proposal laying out new boundaries for Wyoming House District 22 would include all Teton County residents living west of the Snake River but no one living in Pinedale.
Teton County’s commissioners got together with a consultant using geographic information system maps and drew up the new district as part of a proposal offered to the Legislature’s Joint Interim Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee when the committee met Wednesday in Rock Springs and Pinedale. Those meetings were the first of 10 the committee plans to hold around the state to hear local concerns and proposals about redistricting the Wyoming Legislature.
The process of reconfiguring the boundaries of legislative districts is known as “redistricting.” It is constitutionally mandated. The Legislature must redraw legislative district lines in the first budget session following completion of the decennial U.S. Census. Under the principle of “one person, one vote,” those districts must be nearly equal in population to ensure that each voter wields roughly equal power in legislative elections.
Since population grew in some areas of the state and declined in others since the 2000 Census, legislative district boundaries must change to reflect those shifts. Determining exactly how is a political process traditionally used by the party in control of the legislature to solidify the ability of its members to get elected.
In Wyoming, the Republican Party’s huge majorities in both the state House and Senate mean shifting district lines will affect its own members. There are some places, like Cheyenne, where the party can redraw the lines to include voters more likely to vote Republican in specific Senate or House districts. But in most areas, moving district lines will affect seats held by Republicans.
Those new lines proposed for House District 22 are the first example. They would ripple through the rest of southwestern Wyoming, requiring significant changes in districts in Lincoln, Sweetwater, and Uinta counties.
The Teton County proposal knocks out a sitting legislator, HD20 Rep. Kathy Davison of Kemmerer, whose community would be absorbed into House District 19. Davison’s GOP colleague Rep. Owen Petersen of Mountain View holds the HD19 seat.
Tension over the Jackson-based proposal could be heard in side-conversations in the Pinedale meeting, which was in the Sublette County Library. The HD 22 seat is held by one of the nine Democrats in the 60-seat House, Jim Roscoe of Wilson.
The Teton County officials made the argument that both Sublette and Teton counties witnessed significant growth over the past decade and those changes require dividing the district.
Some Teton County residents believe House District 22, established in the 2001 redistricting process, was created to split the Wilson vote to dilute the power of voters seen as more liberal, particularly on conservation issues. As a result, House District 22 presently includes part of the Wilson area, goes south to cover Alpine and Etna, then extends east and south into Sublette County, taking in Bondurant, Cora Pinedale and Big Piney. Most of the residents in the southern end of the present district, an area booming with natural gas development, are believed to view conservation matters differently than the majority of residents of Teton Valley, the home of two national parks and an economy that thrives on nature-based tourism.
Teton County Commissioner Hank Phibbs said the proposal worked out in Teton County roughly “squared off” the south boundary of HD22 at Star Valley Ranches, extending it east to Daniel and Cora in Sublette County.
Sublette County’s population grew 73% over the decade to 10,247. Under the 2010 Census, the ideal population for a House district is 9,394. To meet “one person one vote” tolerances, Sen. Charles Scott, a Natrona County-based senator on the committee, said no House district can have more than 9,863 residents, or fewer than 8,925.
That means Sublette County cannot be wholly contained within a single district. Two Sublette County officials, County Clerk Mary Lankford, and Commissioner O.G. Wilson, said they want to keep Sublette County “as whole as we can.”
And Bondurant resident Mary Winney, whose husband Bill Winney ran for the HD22 seat in 2010 and lost to Roscoe, said she did not want to be included in a district oriented to Jackson. “I don’t belong in Jackson,” she said. “Bondurant needs to stay with Pinedale.”
Phibbs argued for the proposed new lines by noting that many residents of Alpine, Etna, and Star Valley ranches commute to work in Jackson. That connection means the residents of the HD 22 proposed by the Teton County group share a community of interest. And that means the proposal meets one of the redistricting principles guiding the joint committee’s redistricting work. (You can see the Principles of Interest on the Legislative Service Office website.)
Rep. Keith Gingery, HD23, R-Jackson, offered a fig leaf to those concerned about the Teton County proposal’s ripple effects in districts further south in Lincoln, Uinta, and Sweetwater counties. Gingery (seen at top during the 2011 session) noted it was necessary to “add numbers to HD22” after taking the west bank of the Snake River, so the lines were extended south to pick up Etna and Star Valley ranchers.
“We took House District 16 (represented by GOP Rep. Ruth Ann Petrov) … and shrank it to the town corporate limits of Jackson. We pulled 22 up (from Pinedale),” Gingery said.
“The rest of it south, I hope other people will come up with a better way,” he said, noting he does not like the boundary changes proposed for HD 20. But “the numbers drive it,” he said, noting some Sublette County have to be included in a district that crosses county lines.
Joint Corporations Committee member Rep. Alan Jaggi, HD18, R-Lyman, said people across the state want to see legislative district boundaries follow county lines as much as possible. But that is impossible to do and still meet the district population requirements of the “one person, one vote” principle.
“Rather than say, ‘Keep us whole,’ come up with a plan,” Jaggi said. “Everyone in the state says, ‘leave us alone.’”

For another report on this meeting, see the Jackson Hole Daily.