The year 2020 will be significant in West Virginia for several reasons.
First, it’s a huge political year. The state will have races for U.S. Senate, Governor, the Board of Public Works, 100 House of Delegates seats and half of the 34 state Senate seats, as well as county elections.
Additionally, the U.S. Census will take place, and those results will have a significant impact on the state’s political make-up. That’s because the state is required to draw new boundaries for Congress, the state House and Senate. How those lines are drawn could impact races for years to come.
But who is going to draw those lines and how can the public be assured that they are constructed without political gerrymandering to favor certain candidates or political parties?
Kenneth Martis, Professor Emeritus of Geography at WVU, has co-authored eight books on American elections. He believes strongly that West Virginia should follow the lead of several other states and establish an Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) to create the new boundaries.
“The IRC amendments for each state were different in a number of ways,” Martis wrote recently in the Charleston Gazette-Mail. “However, the core of each law was the formation of a citizen’s commission or board, acting in a transparent and open way, encouraging public participation, and using legal and ethical standards to draw congressional, state senate and state house district boundary lines.”
It may be hard to convince the Legislature to do that. Lawmakers will argue that the state Constitution gives them the authority to handle redistricting. What is less clear is whether the lawmakers actually have to draw the lines or whether they can simply approve the new maps that others have drawn.
Lawmakers will also argue—behind the scenes—that there is considerable power in determining where those lines are drawn. It’s a natural inclination for politicians to want to craft a district that is in the best interest of themselves or their party.
But that’s exactly what West Virginia needs to avoid. As Martis explained, political division maps drawn to suit a politician rather than the public create “concern among those seeking a fair vote, electoral reform and good government practices.”
Martis points out that a few lawmakers tried, but failed, last session to at least study the possibility of creating an Independent Redistricting Commission, and he urges lawmakers to bring it up again in 2019.
“It’s time to end gerrymandering in West Virginia forever,” Martis said. Yes, it is, but it will take an act of the Legislature to make that happen and ceding authority over something as consequential as political boundaries does not come easily.