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Legislators provide update to redistrict House

PARKERSBURG — A proposed change in how delegates are elected from multi-member districts would be a transition until single-member districts are established for the West Virginia House of Delegates, a sponsor said.

The next census is 2020 and the single-member districts could be in place in 2022 when the Legislature next draws the boundaries of election districts, Delegate John Overington, R-Berkeley, said.

“It’s at least the beginning,” he said.

Senate Bill 7 and House Bill 2124 were introduced Feb. 8 when the 2017 Legislature reconvened and would require starting in 2018 in districts of two or more delegates to be divided into divisions based on the number of delegates. Candidates in a division would run at-large in the entire district, but the candidate receiving the highest number of the votes cast in the division would be nominated or elected.

Overington said the intention is the election of members from divisions would be the transition until the next redistricting. Districts are based on population and, in an issue unrelated to writing House of Delegates district boundaries, is West Virginia may lose enough population to drop from three to two members to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Single-member districts have advantages besides residents having a single person who represents them, Overington said.

Campaigns could more likely be based on the issues rather than name recognition or how much money is raised, he said. A representative would be responsive to a constituent who would only have to seek one person rather than two or more, according to Overington.

“You have a lot more accountability,” he said.

Twenty districts in West Virginia are multi-delegate districts.

The 51st District in Monongalia County has the most delegates, five, and the 35th in Kanawha County and the 48th in Harrison County have four.

The state Republican Party has long supported single-member districts. Overington doesn’t believe single-member districts would even be considered if the Democrats remained in power in the House and Senate.

Delegate John Kelly, R-Wood, wouldn’t be opposed to single-member districts, but sees no issues with multi-member districts.

“I don’t have a problem with what we got right now,” said Kelly, of Parkersburg, who serves in the three-member 10th District with Delegates Frank Deem and Vernon Criss.

It’s not a problem of who represents who and knowing who the delegates are in a district, Kelly said.

“People in Wood County know who their delegates are,” he said. “The ones who don’t, don’t care.”

In the House and Senate, the legislation has been sent to the respective Judiciary Committees where there are nearly 120 bills pending in the House and early 150 in the Senate.

Overington said he will speak to the chairmen of the committees to see about getting the bills on the agendas.

(Mancini can be contacted at jmancini@newsandsentinel.com)

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