Illustration by Paul Hostetler
Editor's note: This article has been updated since publication in our October issue.
A steady stream of voters passed through Chesterfield County’s J.B. Watkins Elementary School on June 12, a hot primary day in Virginia. Unlike most election days, political literature and their hawkers were scarce in this corner of the 7th congressional district. Only Abigail Spanberger, one of two Democratic candidates vying for their party’s nomination to take Republican Dave Brat’s seat in November, bothered to set up shop.
Without a Republican challenger in the primary, no Brat yard signs or volunteers competed for voters’ attention. No Republican literature was anywhere to be found. There was no need. Virginia’s notorious practice of gerrymandering — the intentional manipulation of political boundaries to favor one party — is nothing if not an incumbent-protection racket.
As a volunteer for OneVirginia2021, a nonpartisan organization racing to pass redistricting reform before the next round of political map drawing, I spent the afternoon talking with voters about why they should care. My favorite one-liners: “Extreme gerrymandering leads to polarization of politics and paralysis of government.” “Voters ought to pick their politicians, not the other way around.” And, “It’s not a matter of left and right, it’s a matter of right and wrong.”
Under strict instructions not to show preference for any party or candidate, I staked my “You’ve Been Gerrymandered” sign in the ground as far as possible from the star-spangled Democratic tent, while still hugging the shade near the front door. Pointing to my red, white and blue sign, one puzzled gentleman (who apparently assumed the sign was aimed at a candidate) asked, “Is he a Republican?”
My first impulse was to laugh. Then, when I realized the voter was simply looking for the Republican side of the story, I was tempted to say yes, despite my volunteer training. A lifelong Democrat, I preferred to think gerrymandering was a Republican sin until OneVirginia2021 opened my eyes to the disturbing truth. Both parties have a long history of manipulating maps to their advantage.
The opportunity to do so occurs every 10 years, when political boundaries must be redrawn after the national census to ensure districts remain roughly equal in population. It’s no longer a backroom secret that politicians use increasingly sophisticated software to pick off “undesirable” neighborhoods — even houses — to artificially create a political majority, no matter what the popular vote.
Because the General Assembly draws the maps in Virginia, the majority party has the power to stack the decks in their favor. And, since the state Constitution also stipulates districts must be contiguous and compact, one has only to look at the sprawling boundaries to realize something creative is cooked up in the legislative kitchen.
True, Republicans controlled the House of Delegates in 2011, the last time districts were redrawn. But Democrats ruled the Senate and approved the maps to protect their own seats. If Republicans sweetened the electoral pot, Democrats put the cherry on top. Bottom line: The system is rigged, and in some districts, your vote simply doesn’t count. Yet.
“Redistricting reform may not be the issue you care about most, but it must be the issue you care about first to protect our republic,” says Brian Cannon, executive director of OneVirginia2021.
The organization has been working during the past decade to reform the redistricting process in a three-pronged attack through the legislature, the courts and public demand. Its mission is to pass a state constitutional amendment that would end gerrymandering and give the redistricting pen to an independent commission.
In the 2018 session of the General Assembly, bipartisan bills to outlaw gerrymandering were dismissed or gutted in committee. In late June, the U.S. Supreme Court dismayed activists when it punted on gerrymandering cases from three states. Hope returned only days later when a federal three-judge panel found that 11 Virginia districts (including several in the Richmond area) were improperly drawn to concentrate black voters and ordered them redrawn by Oct. 30. Republicans have since appealed to the Supreme Court.
During a session convened in late August by Gov. Ralph Northam, GOP lawmakers in the House of Delegates rejected an effort by Democrats to redraw the maps and adjourned without setting another meeting date. On Oct. 2, Northam released a statement saying that he would veto a redistricting bill proposed by a Republican delegate and supported by some Democrats. Northam says he supports a state constitutional amendment to establish nonpartisan redistricting. Meanwhile, he says, "The federal court is best positioned to construct a remedial districting plan."
Now it’s up to the people.
“This is a call to action,” Cannon says. “January 2019 is our last chance to start the amendment process in time to have fair maps by 2021.”
On the June primary day, I told the confused gentleman he could find a Republican ballot inside. But first, I asked, would he like to help stop gerrymandering in Virginia? I wish I could say I signed up a convert on the spot. It didn’t work out that way. But I and hundreds of other OneVirginia2021 volunteers have recruited more than 82,000 citizens to send a resounding message to our representatives: “Voting districts belong to Virginians, not politicians or parties.” We must reclaim our voices, before it’s too late.
