Anticipating both growth and shifts in the population of the United States, our forefathers saw the importance of protecting fair representation for each citizen.

The U.S. Constitution requires that after every census, held at the beginning of each decade, the House of Representatives must be reapportioned  to reflect each state’s population. This is because the Constitution requires each Representative to serve of behalf of an equal number of citizens. The geographic area each district covers has to be updated so that each district is equal in population.

It works the same way for state Senate and House of Delegates districts. The Virginia Constitution mandates redistricting each decade in line with the census

Every 10 years, in a back room somewhere at the General Assembly, members of the majority party choose their voters. Using powerful computers and ever-more sophisticated databases, they sit down to draw districts that make it easier to be re-elected.

They create "safe" districts where a substantial majority of voters are of their party. And they draw bad districts for the other party. The resulting districts look like tortured Rorschach tests. They don't represent a real community of voters and they certainly aren't drawn to ensure the best representation for the voters.

They've made the choice for you. When 65 or 70% of a district is artifically comprised of one party, there's no way any challenger can realistically oppose an incumbent -- so no one runs. Ever wonder why most of the time you only have one choice on election day? That's why.

The deck is stacked. Imagine if you could choose which cards came up when you played poker -- You'd always get a good hand. Now, pretend you're a politician and you could pick the voters in your district. Does that seem fair?

They don't need to listen to you. If politicians don't need to sweat the election in November, why would they ever have to listen to the average voter? They can rest assured that as long as they don't offend the hard-core base of their own party, they're safe. Gerrymandering means never having to listen to the average voter.

More fighting, fewer solutions. If general elections don't matter, the only election that does matter is the party primary. Held in June, only 10% of voters will participate in most primaries. And those that do are the most ardent partisan activists. Politicians are forced to cater to party activists to stay in office. It pushes the debate farther to the extreme, away from compromise and solutions-oriented government.