By Steven Allen Adams, The Weirton Daily Times
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Members of the West Virginia Legislature’s two redistricting committees reviewed some of the first-draft maps, Thursday, laying out what dropping from three congressional districts to two could look like.
The House Redistricting Committee met Thursday morning at the Capitol for its first organizational meeting.
While future draft maps will be uploaded 24 hours before the start of future meetings, committee members were shown six proposals for dividing West Virginia into two congressional districts.
West Virginia has had three congressional districts since the early 1990s, originally having six districts and an at-large district before population loss dwindled the number of districts down to three. After the 2020 Census, West Virginia’s population dropped to 1,793,716 and resulted in the loss of another district.
Lawmakers will need to draw two congressional districts with about 900,000 residents each with as little deviation in population as possible between the two. Both districts also will need to be as compact as possible, though the state’s two panhandles make that tough…