On July 27, the Putnam County courthouse in Winfield was the site the first public hearing of West Virginia Legislature’s Joint Committee on Redistricting. The Joint Committee will conduct a total of 12 public hearings before taking on the task of redrawing legislative boundary lines.

The West Virginia Constitution requires the Legislature to redraw these lines every 10 years utilizing U.S. Census data to reflect any population changes. Due to the delay in the federal…