Virginia: On Ballot- a measure to end partisan Gerrymandering
We have some members who are really frightened of political gerrymandering. Well it is constitutional- elections have consequences. States are free to reign it in.
On the November ballot we will get to vote on creating a nonpartisan body to draw districts every 10 years. Since VA is now blue due to Progs moving in from high tax Maryland and DC I will vote Yes for this ballot measure.
Since the Progs took the statehouse last election expect them to vote No.
How would forum members who fear partisan gerrymandering vote if they lived in Virginia?
In Virginia, the gerrymander goes all the way back to the first congressional elections, when then-Gov. Patrick Henry drew up a district to try to keep James Madison, father of the Constitution that Henry opposed, out of the House of Representatives.
Madison, though, campaigned vigorously despite a chronic case of hemorrhoids, and beat James Monroe in a race featuring two future presidents.
Now, Virginia voters are deciding whether to alter their state constitution to support redistricting reform that would take the once-every-10-year task of drawing maps out of legislators' hands, at least to an extent, and give it to a bipartisan panel.
The debate over the referendum comes one year after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows even extreme partisan gerrymandering. But even though the issue has become a hot-button one nationally, the Virginia referendum is the only redistricting question on the ballot in the U.S. this year, said reform advocate Brian Cannon.
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Originally Posted by Peter1469
