State Legislators No Help in Decoding Redistricting Plans

Virginia state legislators invited voters to a public hearing on redistricting Saturday and gave them no information about redistricting plans.

State legislators have made it extremely difficult for ordinary citizens to find and understand the plans that call for major changes in Virginia Senate and House Districts. New boundaries would split communities from McLean to Mantua, in the central part of the county.

The Fairfax Center Government Center on Saturday was the site of one of eight public hearings held around the state to hear from citizens about redistricting.

New district lines were drawn up by members of the Privileges and Elections committees of the Virginia state Senate and House of Delegates. Each panel's chair, Sen. Janet Howell, D-McLean-Reston, and Del. Mark Cole, R-Fredericksburg, sponsored the meeting.

Each welcomed the audience of about 40. But neither Cole nor Howell mentioned their proposed plans, which call for major changes in who represents McLean and other parts of Fairfax County.

Those testifying had managed to find and understand the proposed redistricting plans authored by Howell's and Cole's committees. The plans are posted on the General Assembly website but they are difficult to find. Once you find them  you have to decipher them. An ordinary citizen attending the hearing might have felt as if they had been invited to a game where they were the only one without a scorecard.

The speakers commenting on the plans  included Providence Supervisor Linda Smyth; Rob Jackson, president of the McLean Citizens Association; representatives of the League of Women Voters; and a few citizens. Fewer than 10 people testified but their message was the same: the plans split communities and citizens were not consulted.

Rob Jackson, president of the McLean Citizen Association, told the hearing. “We strongly object" to the Senate and House plans "because they split McLean into pieces and put us into districts where we have no commonality of interests.” McLean would share at state senator and a state representative with part of Arlington under the plans. Jackson noted that and Arlington sometimes disagree.  “We think that these two plans ignore the importance of keeping all of McLean," in one district, Jackson said.

"The maps presented but both houses are so Gerrymandered for political purposes that they serve no one but the protection of incumbents and that is a shame,"  Olga Hernandez president of the The League of Women Voters of Virginia said at the hearing. "We continue to say you have a conflict of interest because you are choosing your voters instead of having voters choose you. Virginia can be a model for the country if you go about putting the people ahead of party protection," she concluded.

Smyth said in her Providence district, “We do have more in the way of split precincts. . . which  means you can be dividing neighborhoods” She said the communities of Woodbine and Mantua would be split under the House plan.

 “Particularly in Mantua you are talking up splitting up a neighborhood. . .  Let's and keep the neighbors together.”

Here's a simple guide to finding the proposed redistricting changes in Virginia's political map:

1. Go to this site, which takes a few seconds to load. You will see a map of Virginia.

2. Go the left-hand site at the top and you'll see Default. Click on the down arrow next to it. You can choose to see the Senate or the House Districts.

3. Click on the Senate. You'll now see a map with numbers in green boxes. First go the far right-hand side of the page. You'll see a bar that let's you zoom in. Gradually zoom in on the map until you have Fairfax. You will need some amount of patience here. Just keep at it and you can do it.

4. Now that you have Fairfax squarely on your screen, go back to the left-hand side and click on "current districts." Now the fun begins. Once you see the current districts then you can click on Janet Howell's March 30 plan and see how your district changes.

5. Repeat this process for the House districts.

May the force be with you.