Wyoming Legislative Members Discussing Redistricting

Now that the 2020 US Census numbers are available, it will soon be time to draw new lines in the Cowboy State, as far as who will represent which area in the Wyoming Legislature.

The process must be done once every 10 years once the new Census numbers become available.

Last week the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee met at Sheridan College to discuss restricting issues amongst other topics.

Republican State Senator Ogden Driskill from Devils Tower is the chairman of the committee and is also the Senate Majority Floor Leader.

He says the big issue is that the rural areas of population are becoming smaller and that means some state senate and house districts will have more territory to represent.

He adds that if a district gets too big, that could create some travel problems.

One area in particular is the Big Horn Basin.

“The fact that it’s bounded by mountains all the way around and it gets really hard to have a senator or representative go hundreds of miles over a road that might be closed in the winter time to do representation so the basin is a challenge for us and we have some other areas that are challenging.” 

The full Legislature will have the final say on redistricting issues.

The 2022 Wyoming Budget session is scheduled to begin on February 14th and will run for 4 weeks.

Once redistricting issues are settled, they will take effect in the 2022 Wyoming primary and general elections.