KGWN –Cheyenne, WY– Scottsbluff, NE News,Weather, SportsState's Redistricting Could Shakeup Southeast Wyoming

State's Redistricting Could Shakeup Southeast Wyoming

It's an issue that's dealt with by state lawmakers every ten years, re-districting throughout Wyoming, and the time has come once again to figure out how to redraw the lines.

Legislature is required by the State Constitution to re-district after every decennial census.

But because of growing populations, particularly in Campbell County, it could mean drastic changes to districts in this corner of the state.

In the last ten years Wyoming's population has grown from about 498,000 to approximately 565,000.

State lawmakers have decided that ideally there should now be around 9,400 people per house district.

"Think of a jigsaw puzzle, nothing's on either side and you're got at least 15 people taking a look at the jigsaw puzzle and all sitting around a table trying to figure out how to put this thing together," Pete Illoway said.

Representative Pete Illoway will be heavily involved in the redistricting discussions going on Thursday and Friday in Casper.

He says the problems have been created by the amount of growth in the northeastern part of the state.

"How does the eastern part of the state, how is that affected. We're working hard. I think we're 50% there," Illoway said.

For Illoway his district on the west side of Cheyenne could be drastically expanded to the north.

"I would be representing them so they would be interested in who their new representative would be," Illoway said.

It's not just District 42, others in the area also could have a new representative.

"The way it could work is the eastern part of Laramie County could go all the way up to Torrington and Wheatland," Illoway said.

That's not a plan Illoway says he favors. He would prefer to keep districts as close as possible to the way they are now.

"There's a lot of things that I think are wrong with doing that. Those people have different interests. School District #2 has different interests than those folks in Torrington and Fort Laramie," Illoway said.

Illoway is part of the legislative panel meeting in Casper to design a redistricting recommendation.

He doesn't think they'll get a bill finished till probably November or December, but says once they do decide on a plan they will seek public opinion before recommending it to the full legislature during the 2012 budget session.