Beckley Council approves new ward map

Josephine Moore, The Register-Herald, Beckley, W.Va.
Updated ·2 min read

Dec. 15—The Beckley Common Council approved a new map of the city's five wards during a regular meeting on Tuesday.

Beckley Recorder/Treasurer Billie Trump said most of the wards are relatively unchanged except for Wards 4 and 5.

According to the newly approved ward map provided to The Register-Herald, the back portion of Woodcrest is now part of Ward 5.

The remainder of Woodcrest, including the area closest to Woodrow Wilson High School, remains part of Ward 4.

Ward 5 has also been extended to include more of the Pinecrest Business and Technology Park.

East Beckley still makes up most of Ward 5 despite the shift in its borders.

However, some streets to the western border of Ward 5 have been moved into Ward 2.

The area moved from Ward 5 to Ward 2 is around where West Virginia University Institute of Technology is located.

A portion of Ward 4 located along Johnstown Road has also been extended to include some of WVU Tech, which was previously part of Ward 2.

Trump said he's been working to redraw the city's ward map with the recently named Beckley fire chief, Joe Coughlin, for the past few months after receiving the latest census data for the city.

Trump said the goal was to even out the voters in each ward as best they could with the data provided.

"The one thing about the statistics that we get from the census, we're bound by what people send in," he said. "... it's not uncommon that there are areas that, for whatever reason, there are areas that really underreport their information or don't report it at all."

Trump said they also have to make sure their wards line up with voting districts drawn by the state and county, which accounts for some of the more minute changes to the new ward map.

"There's a lot of moving parts, but essentially, it's all geared toward being as uniform and fair with the information that's been submitted," Trump said.

Anyone affected by the shift in wards should receive notification from Raleigh County's voter registration office before the May election.

According to the city's website, the ward map was last updated in October 2021.

Trump said they will upload the new ward map to the city's website as soon as possible.

Email: jmoore@register-herald.com