Posted on 08/24/2021 8:45:31 AM PDT by ChicagoConservative27
Virginia's Redistricting Commission voted on Monday to redraw the commonwealth's congressional and state legislative districts from scratch, marking a victory for anti-gerrymandering advocates.
The 16-person commission, made up of eight Virginia lawmakers and eight citizens, voted 12-4 and planned to enlist a bipartisan group to help outline the state's new political maps.
The development comes after voters approved a constitutional amendment last fall that moved the power in the redrawing process from the state legislature to the commission. Voters previously voiced concerns that earlier maps have been heavily influenced by politics.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Such groups ALWAYS lean heavily to the left.
Just let a computer do it.................
So eight politicians and eight "random" citizens chosen by BLM, DNC, Soros, Xi Jinping, etc. Will choose more fairly and uphold the VA state constitution than two legislative houses elected by and representing representing all citizens. North VA (aka New DC). Jefferson's ghost weeps. King George III's spirit laughing his Crazy, Royal, Arse off.
I have zero doubt that these districts will be redrawn by Leftists, legislation put in place with little or no meaningful public scrutiny, and cemented in place for eternity for a Leftist electoral advantage.
I would love to use computer technology to draw congressional districts. That way, districts would be as geographically compact and as equal in population as possible.
Some districts would probably still favor one political party, but it would not be due to intentional creation of such districts.
The republicans always get rolled whenever they talk about bi-partisan anything. It happened in Arizona last time they drew the lines. Even though republicans controlled the legislature they thought they’d “be fair” and form a neutral line drawing commission which was headed by the wife of a dimocrat lawmaker. We went from 6 republicans and one dimocrat to 4 of each.
Someone has to code it. Who is going to code it? You are assuming there would be no human influence in the code.
Yes I am assuming no human influence in the code. If a liberal coder gets in there to devise the code, then there would be no point to using computer technology.
“Voters previously voiced concerns that earlier maps have been heavily influenced by politics.” Who do these “Voters” think will decide is on the commission? Are they going to have a statewide vote to constitute the commission, or, as usual, are Politicians going to appoint the people on the commission?
It has been my experience, for the past four decades, that anything being trumpeted as “Bipartisan” is nothing of the sort, is being trumpeted, presented and steered by the Left for their own goals, and results in policy and law that is bad for conservatives, bad for Americans, and bad for America.
Easy Fix ...
“All districts must be quadrilaterals with the sides being drawn along latitude and longitude lines. If a district borders the state boundary, the state boundary may serve as a district boundary.”
Feel free to add limiting verbiage as you see fit.
After the 1990 Census, the Florida Legislature was controlled by Dems and had been for many years.
They decide to create ‘Minority Districts’ where they were sure to get representatives in the House of Representatives in Tallahassee and DC.
It worked. The districts looked like snakes in a bucket but held up in court, by lib judges, of course.
Then came the elections and the Dems drooled at the possibility of super majority, able to override and Republican governor’s veto, and a huge increase in DC as well.
The Republicans took both houses in Tallahassee, and in 95 DC as well.
What happened?
In order to create these ‘Minority Districts’ the Dems were ‘too clever by half’ as the Brits say.
They had to rob minority voters from adjacent ‘white districts’ to do so, thus diluting the Democrat voters in that district, leaving a plurality of Republican and Independent (No Party affiliation) and Libertarian voters to overwhelm the Democrat voters in those districts.
The Dems cried foul, but they had no one to blame but themselves.
Then came the 2000 Census and the Dems figured that the RACIST REPUBLICANS would abolish the ‘Minority Districts’ because they are RACISTS and that’s what RACISTS do and all.
But they didn’t.
They kept the Minority Districts in tact.
The Dems could not object, else they would look like the bigoted fools they are.................................
I don’t want to sound like Pollyanna but this is actually a better result than if we didn’t have the Commission - in that case, the Dem Senate and House in VA would redraw the districts with the Dem Governor’s approval. So this really can’t be worse, and it may be considerably better.
You don’t sound at all like Pollyanna. You sound like you are trying to have a reasoned, adult conversation.
I understand what you say and thought that possibility through too, but...having it end up in a smaller group of humans not bound by an electoral process to the citizenry made me a bit queasy.
Sounds like a complete redesign for a permanent Democrat Party
Future
Indeed. George Carlin had it right: "Bipartisan usually means that a larger-than-usual deception is being carried out."
State senate districts were gerrymanderred in favor of the ‘Rats.
The GOP drew the House of Delegates districts, but courts have gotten involved and redrawn something like 12 districts, which has hurt the GOP.
As far as Congress is concerned, if the commission makes the districts compact, then the ‘Rats probably get 6 of the 11 districts (3 in Northern Virginia, 2 in Hampton Roads and 1 comprising the Richmond metropolitan area). The GOP would get the other 5. Right now, the ‘Rats have a 7-4 edge in our Congressional delegation.
Right now, the congressional map is almost as bad as in Maryland. The way Virginia is shaped, the map should almost draw itself.
Fairfax county gets one complete district, which would be six of the nine supervisor districts, totallin 784,672 people. The other 375k people in Fairfax get combined with Falls Church, Arlington and Alexandria to comprise a second NOVA district. Then you take Prince William (I think the second largest county in the USA that does not have a congresscritter) and the cities of Manassas and Manassas, plus Stafford and Fauquier counties, to get a third NOVA district. Then you take Loudoun and add to it the counties in the Shenandoah Valley as far south as Rockingham and Harrisonburg city to get the fourth district.
Richmond, Henrico and Chesterfield are a fifth district.
Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton and Newport News headline the sixth district. The two counties of the Eastern shore (35,000 people) are connected by the bridge-tunnel to Virginia Beach, which would be in the seventh district along with Chesapeake, Suffolk and neighboring rural counties south of the James River.
The eighth district would comprise the eleven tidewater counties on the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Caroline, Hanover, New Kent, Charles City, James City, Williamsburg city, York, and adjacent counties to the west to come up with 784,000 people.
The “fighting ninth” would expand evenly out from the southwest corner of Virginia, but would exclude the Roanoke metro area and would continue east along the NC border. This district currently has 22 of the 95 counties in the state, and probably needs to go as far east as Danville and Pittsylvania county.
A tenth district would include much of the Roanoke-Lynchburg television market (DMA), probably has to take in Staunton, Waynesboro and Charlottesville.
The eleventh district (which would replace the current 7th district) would include everything else in Central Virginia which is not included in the other districts.
If the commission is desirous of compact districts that honor political boundaries as much as possible and which promote communities of interest, the map would look like this.
I am not holding my breath.
“...and eight citizens...”
Nobody asked me if I wanted to be in this committee. How were they chosen?
“bi-partisan” - never is !
Always a codeword for caving into what the left wants !
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