Dear Friends:  

The Senate Privileges and Elections Subcommittee on Redistricting is holding public hearings prior to development of a plan for consideration in the 2011 session of the Virginia General Assembly. I hope that this information is helpful!

Redistricting in 2011 will be a new experience for more than half of the General Assembly. Only 59 of 140 members took part in the 2001 special redistricting session- two-thirds or 26 members of the present Senate and one-third or 33 members of the present House. 

The legislature in Virginia, as in most states, draws congressional and state legislative district lines. In final form, a redistricting plan is a bill and follows the same process that any other bill has to follow. If it is passed by both houses and has not been vetoed by the Governor, it has to be submitted to either the Department of Justice or the District Court of the District of Columbia for review and approval as required by §5 of the Voting Rights Act. This all takes time. 

Virginia is one of only four states that will be holding state legislative elections in 2011 (Virginia plus Louisiana, Mississippi, and New Jersey). The fact that Virginia must redistrict in 2011 and that both the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates stand for election in 2011 forces Virginia to follow a tight timetable to be ready for the November 2011 election. The need to allow time for the preclearance process further constrains the timetable for redistricting. 
 
The "one person/one vote" standard determines whether population shifts will require changes in existing districts. The legal standards governing permissible population deviations have remained relatively constant during the past two decades. Congressional districts must be drawn with virtually equal populations. In a series of cases, the Supreme Court has interpreted Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution as prohibiting inequalities among the congressional districts within a state, and it has applied a strict standard of equality through the past three decades. Courts have recognized a number of traditional criteria: 

• Population equality.

• Compactness.

• Contiguity.

• Avoidance of splits of political subdivisions and precincts.

• Preservation of communities of interest.

• Preservation of the basic shape of existing districts.

• Protection of incumbents and avoidance of the pairing of incumbents.

• Political fairness or competitiveness.

• Voter convenience and effective administration of elections.

It is important that you be informed and that we hear your opinions and concerns about redistricting. I encourage you to attend the Senate Subcommittee on Redistricting's public hearing to be conducted on December 2, 2010 at the The Forum, Bldg A Tidewater Community College, 120 Campus Drive in Portsmouth. The meeting begins at 7:00pm. 

For more information on the process you can go to the Virginia Public Access Project at http://www.vpap.org/updates/redistricting or visit the General Assembly website http://dlsgis.state.va.us/ where you can view maps and read transcripts of the public comment sessions held around the state. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact my office by calling 757-671-2250 or by email.