The battle of where lines in Star Valley will be drawn for new house and senate districts is heating up.   Star Valley experienced enough growth in the last decade to exceed its current Wyoming House and Senate districts. And, while it is known that the valley voters will be divided, exactly how the district lines will be drawn is still up for grabs.   Ideally House District 22 would have 9,394 residents living in it. However, right now that district has 10,966 (1,572 too many).  Senate District 16 would have 18,788 residents living within its boundaries. There are currently 23,184 people in the area (4,396 over the ideal).  Two redistricting proposals that are gaining some traction include taking the northern portion of Star Valley (the greater  Alpine, Etna and potentially Freedom areas) and putting them in HD 21 with Representative Jim Roscoe. Under that proposal House District 21 would include portions of Teton, Sublette and Lincoln County. The above proposal is the McKim-Dockstader Plan.

A second proposal, the Cooper-Martin Plan, is to take the southern end of Star Valley (Smoot, Osmond and Fairview) and put those communities in House District 20 in Kemmerer, with Representative Kathy Davidson.

“I am not comfortable with this plan because it would make three districts in Star Valley,” said Representative Robert McKim. “The northern end would be in with Teton County. The Afton area would be my district and the southern end would be in with Kemmerer. I think the people of Star Valley would have much better representation with the state if we could keep it to two districts in the valley. But that is not a popular idea right now.”

When the redistricting process takes place, house districts are determined first.  Once house districts are finalized, they are divided into senate districts. Each senate district covers two house districts.

During the 2012 Legislative Session, a redistricting proposal will be presented by the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee to the Wyoming Legislature for a vote.

“What we need is for people to become involved in this and learn about the different plans and decide what it is that they want as far as representation,” said McKim. “They need to submit comments on whether they agree or not with certain proposals. We want the state to take a second look at this.”

All of the proposed redistricting proposals are available for public review on the Wyoming State Legislature Website at by clicking here.     Scroll down to 2011 Legislative Redistricting.

“Review the different plans that are there,” said McKim. “Then submit a comment. There is a place to submit comments at the end of each proposal.”