CHARLESTON — Listening to the public could prove as important as harnessing the latest technology to redraw West Virginia’s congressional and legislative districts, one of the Legislature’s in-house redistricting experts advised lawmakers last week.

Jo Vaughan, who with Teresa Burns helps West Virginia oversee this once-in-a-decade process, also recommended convening the required special session for redistricting as soon as possible. A late summer or early fall session may not give counties and would-be 2012 candidates enough time before next year’s elections, Vaughan told senators during a Friday seminar.

She also offered another tip.

“You want to make sure that the plans you draw will not end up in court,” Vaughan said. “Make sure that they follow all the principles. But just because they will stand up in court doesn’t mean someone won’t challenge them.”

Fresh from completing their annual session and passing a new state budget, lawmakers must soon plunge into the latest round of redistricting. Federal officials expect to release detailed West Virginia figures this week from the 2010 Census. The Legislature must then seek to provide equal representation among the three U.S. House districts as well as for its own Senate and House of Delegates.

Sophisticated computer software can help, Vaughan told senators. But lawmakers must also hear from constituents to ensure they don’t divide school districts or other community connections that won’t necessarily show up in a mapping application.

“Talk to the citizens,“ Vaughan said. “What are your communities of interest that you want to hold together?”

Computers and Internet resources such as Google Earth, meanwhile, will allow residents to follow — and second-guess — the process as never before, Vaughan said.

“We’ve got to make sure about what we’re doing,” she told senators. “The public has the ability to go look at the boundaries.”

The Census Bureau has already revealed West Virginia’s statewide population from last year’s official count: 1,852,994. That suggests 617,665 residents for each U.S. House district, 18,530 people for each of the 100 delegates, and 54,500 residents for each state senator.

The last redistricting, in 2001, assigned roughly 602,781 residents to each congressional seat. The latest county-by-county estimates, from July 2010, suggest that the more populous 2nd District must shed or swap at least one county with the northerly 1st District. Re-aligning the 3rd District, based in the southern coalfields, may require greater effort.

The 2nd District cuts across central West Virginia from the Ohio River to the Potomac. It may have gained nearly 40,000 people since the 2000 Census, according to the July 2010 estimate, while the 1st District is down 2,400 residents and the 3rd District has lost more than 20,000 people.

For 2001’s redistricting, the 2nd District ceded Gilmer County to the 1st District and Nicholas County to the 3rd District.

The July 2010 estimates reflect growth in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle, which has seen the expansion of bedroom communities for the Washington, D.C., beltway. The latest estimates also show a population increase for Monongalia County, home of bustling Morgantown and West Virginia University.

Facing the biggest potential losses are Kanawha County and McDowell County. Home of Charleston, the state capital and still the state’s most populous city, Kanawha has seen residents relocate to suburbs in adjoining Putnam County. McDowell, meanwhile, had nearly 100,000 residents in 1950 but shrank after the mechanization of the coalfields. The July 2010 estimates pegged its population at 22,177, a drop of 5,152 from the 2000 Census.

Those 2010 estimates come with a major caveat — their total differs from the statewide Census count by nearly 27,500 people. But if the trends they suggest prove accurate, the Eastern Panhandle’s Berkeley and Jefferson counties should pick up legislative seats. So should Monongalia and Putnam counties. Those could come at the expense of seats now held by Kanawha County and the Northern Panhandle counties, which had also seen estimated declines. McDowell County, meanwhile, could lose its share of House seats now dominated by Mingo and Wyoming counties but should keep the district carved solely within its borders.