by Ray Marin, Fairfax, VA
Virginians are currently participating in a referendum that asks voters whether the state constitution should be amended to accomplish two things:[1]
- allow the state legislature to redraw electoral district maps for use in congressional elections through the next national census, in 2030;
- to restore Virginia’s standard redistricting process following the 2030 census. [2]
The referendum concludes on April 21st, with early voting already in progress.
At first blush, the amendment proposal seems perverse. Barely five years ago we Virginians amended our state constitution to require that our electoral maps be drawn on a non-partisan, fair basis. Now voters are being asked to abandon that standard, albeit temporarily, so that the General Assembly, presently controlled by Democrats, may gerrymander congressional districts — in favor of Democrats, naturally. New maps that could go into effect for the upcoming midterms elections this November, and that reportedly could cause Republicans to lose from two to four of the seats they now hold, have already been proposed. (Virginia’s congressional delegation currently has six Democrats and five Republicans.)
Republican voters naturally can be expected to oppose the proposed constitutional amendment. But even some Democrats have reservations.
CONTEXT MATTERS
The Virginia gerrymandering proposal did not emerge because Democrats, who generally favor fair maps, suddenly have developed an affinity for gerrymandering (they have not).The proposal is a tit-for-tat by fair-minded Virginians intended to counter the electoral chicanery by our President, who is intent on extinguishing Democratic representation by hook or by crook — including through blatant gerrymandering.
Why is the President doing this? Because polls strongly suggest that, in a fair contest, the Republicans will lose their congressional majority in the coming midterms. The President, afraid that Congress for the first time in his second term could start holding him accountable for his lawless actions and policies that are hurting every American, is trying every trick in his playbook to forestall that eventuality — including calling on Republican-led states to rig their electoral maps to extinguish Democratic seats. Several such states, including Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, and Ohio, have already heeded the President’s call, while California has moved in the opposite direction. Several other states, on both sides of the aisle, are contemplating action of their own, with Virginians now voting on the issue.
‘YES’ IS THE ONLY RESPONSIBLE VOTE ON THE VIRGINIA REFERENDUM
President Trump’s brazen attempt to fix the upcoming midterms has put Virginians, particularly Democrats, in a quandary. On the one hand, they recognize how patently unfair — nay, corrupt — the President’s gerrymandering gambit is, and that it could conceivably even cause Democrats to fail to capture a congressional majority. On the other hand, many who value fairness at the polls feel put off at being asked to subvert fair-mapping standards, even if only temporarily.
The situation Virginians face calls to mind the famous ‘trolley’ problem in moral philosophy which asks whether it is permissible to sacrifice one person to save multiple others. It goes something like this:
Suppose you are the conductor on a speeding trolley that has suddenly lost its brakes. The trolley is hurtling toward a group of several (say, five) workers idly eating their lunch on the track, unaware of the trolley’s approach; the brakeless trolley will surely kill them. Fortunately, there is a side track coming up and the conductor could pull a lever to divert the trolley onto the side track. Unfortunately, a single, unsuspecting worker who happens to be having his lunch there would certainly be killed if you divert the trolley. Would you pull the lever?
People’s responses to the dilemma vary depending on the moral, philosophical, and other factors they take into consideration. (According to the literature, substantial majorities of those asked to grapple with this dilemma tend to choose pulling the lever; a significant minority, however, do not, opting to let fate run its course rather than becoming the active agent of someone’s death.)
Some readers might feel that the trolley thought experiment’s usefulness for determining how to vote on the Virginia referendum is rather strained, and perhaps it is. But to the extent that it is a useful analogy, I would suggest some embellishment might make it more relevant to our case: Imagine that, just beyond our five unsuspecting workers, lies a section of broken track, the product of neglect and outright sabotage by the current administration. (Haven’t we seen the opening scenes of this movie already?) If the trolley does not divert, it will surely derail, killing everyone on board.
Pull the lever. Vote ‘YES’. Please. [3]
[1] The actual wording of the question on the ballot is: 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 redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?
[2] (The drawing of electoral district maps is now done by a commission with elected officials of both major political parties and private citizen representatives, who are tasked with drawing fair maps.)
[3] For information on voting in the Virginia referendum, visit iwillvote.com/va
[P.S. Note by Lowell; check out this video from The Good Place, which I strongly recommend, on the Trolley Problem]
