This video (see below) is excellent; thanks to Fairfax County Democratic Committee Chair Bryan Graham for boiling down to a bit over a minute why everyone should vote NO on Amendment 1, aka the “redistricting amendment” on your ballot. In short:
- “It’s lipstick on a pig, it doesn’t actually change anything, the legislators are still in control of the process…”
- “The redistricting commission that in this thing is going to be half legislators and half citizens who are picked by judges who are picked by legislators from lists of citizens who are also selected by the legislators.”
- “It’s not the change that we were looking for when we were looking to end gerrymandering in Virginia, and it’s not the change that 1VA2021 was created to make, when it was created to make ‘non-partisan, independent’ redistricting in the Commonwealth.”
- Even worse, “it does not ensure that the diversity of Virginia, the voices of Virginia are included and heard in this redistricting process…”
- “If this passes, it will be used as an excuse to stop future change that is desperately needed to ensure that we actually end gerrymandering in Virginia.”
That about sums it up, I’d say…
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