Lawmakers in Wyoming have been planning a series of meetings that will be held around the state this summer. The meetings are being planned  to hear from the public about ideas on how to map out new legislative districts.

A list of principles were created on Tuesday by a legislative panel to help with drawing new district lines and the redistricting process. The panel hopes to keep the new districts contactual and somewhat compact. They also hope it will give the districts a chance to reflect communities of interest as well as follow similar county boundaries. The panel does not want to dilute any rights from any of the minority groups.

There has been uneven population shifts through time and it has been ten years since the last statewide redistricting. The Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Interim Committee hopes to address the issue and resolve any issues from the last redistricting. The new plan is set to go before the legislature for approval some time next year.

According to Legislative staff, each of the thirty state Senate districts should ideally have below 18,800 people and each of the sixty House districts should  have half that.

The areas of Wyoming where population has spiked in recent years are areas of western Wyoming and Campbell County in the northeast part of the state.

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