What Happened?

After the 2010 Census, Virgina began its redistricting process for its state and federal distircts. Governor McDonnell created a bipartisan redistricting coalition, and students from throughout the state created additional maps for legislators to consider. Unfortunately, those efforts were ignored. Instead, the Senate Democratic majority and the House Republican majority gerrymandered their own districts for partisan advantage, but could not agree on a new map for Virginia’s 11 seats in Congress. With the Republicans now controlling both House and Senate, a bill to protect the existing 8-3 Republican advantage in Congress is on a fast track. Opponents of that plan have already filed suit in federal and state court.

What's Next?

Four anti-gerrymandering bills have been introduced in the 2012 General Assembly. Two are now on the docket of the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee and two others are before the House P&E Committee. A complete explanation of these 4 bills can be found here.

The Virginia Redistricting Coalition will continue the campaign for fair redistricting. The Coalition will work to support legislation that seeks to set up a bipartisan or nonpartisan redistricting process removed, as nearly as possible, from partisan control.

The Coalition also will continue to monitor Congressional redistricting, now in federal court, with the goal of a fair process that allows voters the benefit of contiguous districts and communities of interest as prescribed by law.

What Can I Do?
Visit, Call or Write to your legislator today! Tell them:
·    That you don’t want the 2021 redistricting to be a repeat of 2011.
·     That citizens should be encouraged to run for office not discouraged  because politicians are entrenched by incumbency.
·    That you want a fair process of electing leaders.

    In March 2011 Thomas E. Mann, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Norman J. Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, both judges of the Virginia redistricting college competition, wrote in the Washington Post, “Saslaw (Senator Richard Saslaw  D-Springfield) described a classic bipartisan incumbent gerrymander: the majority Democrats in the state Senate would let the majority Republicans in the state House stack the deck for its incumbents and vice versa. The biggest losers? The voters of Virginia, denied competitive elections in which the outcomes reflect their collective preferences.”