Redistricting Amendment
“Election” day is Tuesday, April 21st from 6 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Ballot Question: “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 restricting process resume for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?”
What is does “restore fairness” mean?
In 2020, Virginia voted to amend the Virginia Constitution to have electoral district lines drawn by a bipartisan committee. This legislation was approved by an overwhelming majority of the voters. It passed by a margin of greater than one million votes.
Current Virginia Law
Virginia law combats gerrymandering through a 16-member bipartisan Redistricting Commission (8 citizens, 8 legislators) created by a 2020 constitutional amendment, which draws districts for Congress and the General Assembly, aiming for compactness and avoiding dilution of minority voting power. Requirements in Va. Const. art. II, § 6-A and § 24.2-304.04 ensure proportional representation, contiguity, and community preservation, with final approval required from the General Assembly or the Virginia Supreme Court if deadlocked.
Key Virginia Legal Provisions on Redistricting:
- Independent Commission: The 16-member commission consists of eight citizens and eight legislators (evenly split between parties) to reduce partisan gerrymandering.
- Legal Criteria (Va. Code § 24.2-304.04): Requires Virginia’s congressional and state legislative districts to prioritize equal population, Voting Rights Act compliance to prevent racial vote dilution, preservation of communities of interest, contiguity and compactness, and no undue partisan favoritism.
- Compactness & Contiguity: Districts must be compact and contiguous.
- Anti-Dilution: Districts cannot dilute or diminish the ability of racial or language minorities to elect candidates of their choice.
The proposed Constitutional Amendment for redistricting is direct gerrymandering. “Gerrymandering is the practice of drawing or arranging the boundaries of electoral districts in a way that gives one political party or group an unfair advantage in elections”
Currently, congressional seats are held by 6 democrats and 5 republicans.
According to VPAP, the new legislative districts would be weighted to change the congressional makeup to 10 democratic seats and 1 republican seat. The proposed lines clearly do NOT reflect compact community guidelines.
The History
In October of 2025, the General Assembly held a special session to pass another redistricting amendment. This proposed amendment allows the General Assembly, not a bipartisan committee, to redraw congressional districts at anytime they choose rather than on a decennial cycle (every 10 years).
This will allow the majority members of the General Assembly to redraw the congressional districts every 1-2 years. Members of congress are elected every two years, however, if a member’s term ends prematurely, this would allow their district to be redrawn if that is the will of the General Assembly.
This is not what the citizens of Virginia voted for in 2020 and it is hoped that this will not be supported by the voters in 2026.
If you do not support endless gerrymandering, you must vote NO on the Constitutional amendment to redraw congressional districts.
