RICHMOND — Lawsuits! Heated accusations! Video ads with scary music!
Yes, there is a lot of drama around Virginia’s April 21 referendum on whether to temporarily allow the General Assembly to draw new districts that could add four Democratic seats to the state’s congressional delegation.
Early voting on the referendum is underway, and money is flowing as national political interests clash in Virginia ahead of this fall’s congressional midterm elections, in which control of the House of Representatives is at stake.
President Donald Trump has urged Republican states to draw red-leaning districts to help his party maintain its thin majority in Congress, with Texas, Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina heeding the call and Florida on deck. Virginia is seeking to join California among the blue states pushing back, with Maryland and others considering similar efforts.
Here’s what to know about Virginia’s redistricting amendment before heading to the voting booth.
What is on the ballot?
At issue is whether to give lawmakers the power to redraw political maps for congressional districts from now until 2030, when the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission will swoop into action as usual following the next decennial U.S. Census. State legislative boundaries are not affected by the referendum.
Democrats say redistricting now is necessary to prevent Trump from engineering full control of the federal government. Republicans say it is a naked power grab after a bipartisan mechanism for redistricting was established six years ago, a reversal made possible by Democratic majorities in the state General Assembly and the blessing of Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D).
The state’s current congressional delegation has six Democrats and five Republicans, but Democrats are promising a new map that could give them a 10-1 advantage.
This is the question you’ll see on the ballot: “Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?”
How does amending Virginia’s Constitution work?
Virginians voted in 2020 to amend the state constitution and create a bipartisan redistricting commission to take politics out of the process of drawing political boundaries. The first and only time the commission was activated, it failed to reach consensus and sent the matter to the Supreme Court of Virginia, which used outside experts to draw the current maps.
Amending Virginia’s Constitution requires the General Assembly to pass a proposed referendum twice — once before a House of Delegates election and again after. Democrats called a special legislative session last fall to approve the redistricting idea, then approved it again in January after expanding their majority in last year’s elections.
If voters pass the referendum April 21, lawmakers will be on a tight schedule to put the new maps in place in time to hold primaries in the redrawn congressional districts and then general elections on Nov. 3. Primary elections are scheduled for Aug. 4.
What do the proposed maps look like?
In what they say is an effort at full transparency, Democratic state lawmakers included the maps they plan to put into effect in a budget bill passed last month.
The maps include one solid-red district — the 9th, in the southwest corner of the state. Ten others lean blue, judging by recent election outcomes, with heavily Democratic areas in Fairfax and Prince William counties carved into parts of five districts that stretch into the middle of the state.
Lawmakers tweaked the maps slightly after rolling them out to make the highly competitive 2nd Congressional District in Hampton Roads — now held by Rep. Jen Kiggans (R) — slightly more blue.
Lawsuits are ongoing
Republicans have mounted advertising campaigns against the referendum, but their main mode of attack has been filing lawsuits in Tazewell County, a bright-red district in Southwest Virginia.
Top GOP lawmakers in the General Assembly filed a suit claiming that Democrats violated legislative procedure in approving the amendment, while two Republican members of Congress — Reps. Ben Cline and Morgan Griffith — joined national GOP groups in challenging the wording of the amendment itself.
Both of those suits also raise questions about timing. In part, they allege that state law requires public notice of a proposed constitutional amendment within a certain amount of time before the election is held. With early voting starting 45 days before the election on April 21, the Republicans argue that the referendum is invalid because there hasn’t been enough notice.
Democrats argue that early voting is just that — early — and that the election itself is a one-day event. Tazewell Circuit Judge Jack S. Hurley Jr. sided with Republicans in both suits and issued orders to stop the referendum. Democrats appealed. The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled in both instances that the referendum should continue — but set dates for hearing arguments after the vote is taken. So it’s possible the high court could nullify the amendment after the fact.
How do I vote?
Early voting began March 6 and runs until April 18. Election Day is Tuesday, April 21.
You can register to vote using Virginia’s Citizen Portal until April 14. After that date, you can register and use a provisional ballot through Election Day. Your local registrar’s office has full information about registration and satellite voting locations.
You can also apply through April 10 to have a mail-in ballot sent to you, either by contacting your local registrar or signing up through the Citizen Portal.
The post A voter’s guide to the redistricting referendum in Virginia appeared first on Washington Post.
