The Virginia Redistricting Commission just tweeted that it “will be meeting tomorrow at 1 pm in the Senate Room B in the Pocahontas Building,” and that, “On the agenda: presentation and discussion of HOD & Senate district maps for an expanded Northern Virginia region.” The Commission adds, “To view any of tomorrow’s plans (or any previously presented) on our interactive mapping tool and to submit a comment on a plan, go to View 2021 Plans & Comment.” And “To view the district maps, data tables, and GIS data for any of tomorrow’s plans, go to 2021 Redistricting Plan Data.”
Also, VPAP tweets that “Virginia‘s new #Redistricting Commission has new maps. 2 consultants – 1 GOP, 1 Democratic – have built out N.Va to include Loudoun and Prince Wm. Also @GeorgeLBarker has offered a vision of what his own district should look like.” Wait, what was that last point? According to Ankit Jain, an associate attorney at the Sierra Club, “@GeorgeLBarker drew himself his own district. He contorts the mapmakers’ district 7 to pick up his home in Clifton. Similar to his current district. The blatant nature with which he’s trying to gerrymander to protect himself personally is frankly shocking.” Let’s hope that Barker’s map isn’t even considered by the Commission. I mean…if it is, then…what, can all the legislators on the Commission draw their own districts?!? Something tells me that is NOT what Virginians who voted for Amendment 1 last year intended or thought they were supporting…
P.S. Note that Barker was largely responsible for the 2011 State Senate “gerrymander,” and that he was a huge supporter of the redistricting constitutional amendment…
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