The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Today's Front Page

May 3, 2011

O’Neal wants look at multi-member districts

By Taylor Kuykendall Register-Herald Reporter

In West Virginia, every voter is represented by one delegate — or two, or three, or four, or five or seven.

For example, a citizen of the 23rd District in McDowell County who wants to contact his or her legislator could call Delegate Clif Moore, the sole delegate of that district. A resident of Beckley could call delegates Rick Snuffer, Rick Moye, Virginia Mahan, Linda Sumner or John O’Neal.

O’Neal, in a presentation to the Beckley-Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, said redistricting is one of the biggest issues lawmakers are facing right now.

With a statewide population growth of about 2.4 percent, the state’s Senate, House and congressional districts will have to be redrawn.

One possibility O’Neal said lawmakers should look at a little more closely is redistricting the state into single-member districts. Currently, West Virginia is made up of 36 single-member districts, 11 two-member districts, six three-member districts, three four-member districts and a five-member and seven-member district.

“Across the state, there is a widely ranging hodge-podge of districts,” O’Neal said. “Some places have one member per district — two, three, five, seven. It’s hard to tell the history of how those developed, but that’s what we have.”

West Virginia is currently one of 10 states with multi-member districts and one of only two states with districts larger than three members. The 30th House District, with seven members covering southern Kanawha County, is the largest, proportionally, in the United States, O’Neal said.

Multi-member districts, O’Neal said, violate the principles of “one-man, one-vote” and equal representation. He added that it also suppresses minority groups, including political minorities.

As an example, O’Neal pointed out that congressional districts, by federal law, have been single-member districts since 1842.

O’Neal said multi-member districts also increase the price for a candidate to run for office.

The Senate is currently openly working on its plan to redistrict, while it has not been clear where the House stands on the process.

While the Eastern and Northern panhandles have exploded in population, the southern coalfields have lost many residents. That fact means that more representation will move geographically north and east in West Virginia.

O’Neal said past redistricting practices have occurred behind closed doors, with partisan control, no public input and under the control of “political bosses.” While previous administrations have done much of the redrawing of districts behind closed doors, the Senate’s process appears to be focused on transparency.

O’Neal pointed out that the recent shift in Senate leadership to more northern Senators means being transparent and fair is actually heavily beneficial to the northern and eastern parts of the state.

“I think their intent is to try and make sure the Senate districts more accurately represent the population changes, because it will benefit them,” O’Neal said.

O’Neal also said voter registration across the state is slowly shifting from majority Democratic registration to Independent and Republican registration. The effect, O’Neal said, is a wave of new Republicans entering the state.

“I don’t think people are going and switching their registration from Democrat to Republican,” O’Neal said. “I think what is happening is that some are switching from Democrat to Independent, but I think what is happening is the areas of growth in our state are more Independent and Republican. People are moving in, and new registrations tend to be Independent and Republican. Where there is no growth or stagnation is where we maintain strong Democratic registration.”

— E-mail: tkuykendall@register-herald.com

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