Scrambling of Legislative Districts

Every ten years as required by the Constitution, congressional legislative districts are redrawn as soon as the results of the federal census are known. Court decisions have dictated that every district must contain, as much as practicable, the same number of persons. The same standard has been applied by the courts to state legislative districts. The process of redistricting is to divide the nation or state as nearly as possible into equivalent districts to ensure equal protection of the law referred to as “one man, one vote.”

Until the 1960s Virginia and most other states ignored the requirement of equal representation in the legislative bodies. Initially the malapportionment of legislative seats came about as the regions that controlled the state from the beginning were reluctant to give up power to new developing areas. Northern Virginia lacked an appropriate level of representation in the General Assembly as the Tidewater region that had been settled first begrudgingly gave up power to newly-populated and high-growth areas. It took a series of federal court decisions based on the equal protection clause to require Virginia to redraw district lines for the districts to be as equal in population across the state. In the early 1980s I ran for the House of Delegates three years in a row because the court continued to throw out redistricting done by the incumbent legislators since the districts did not meet the courts’ standards that districts be equal in population.

Another influence on the redistricting process was the bias on the part of state legislators that lines be drawn in a way that minimized the influence of Black voters. By drawing lines such that Black communities were divided among several districts they were not able to exert influence on the outcome of elections for their votes had been diluted across several district lines. Similarly, the party in control of redrawing district lines would diminish the voting power of minority party members by dividing them among several districts. That process became known as “gerrymandering” as the districts could take on very odd shapes including in at least one instance the shape of a salamander.

Struggles over power based on legislative redistricting are as old as the country itself. In an effort to introduce fairness and objectivity into the process I started introducing bills as early as 1982 to establish an independent redistricting commission to do the work that legislative bodies would never be able to do. It was not until 2019 that an agreement was reached on a bill that was not mine but had the intent of my bills to establish an independent redistricting commission. The bill narrowly passed the House of Delegates, but since it was a constitutional amendment it went to the voters where it was approved overwhelmingly. Under the new procedure the Supreme Court of Virginia used masters who did not have an interest in the process to draw the new legislative lines that are effective for the elections in 2023.

My previous District 36 has been realigned with populations shifts and has been numbered District 7. To review new legislative district lines go to vacourts.gov/courts/scv/districting.