Virginia

Virginia Beach Court Voids Single-Member District Plan on a Technicality

By EditorJul 02, 2025

A Virginia Beach Circuit Court has struck down the city’s 10-district, “10-1” council-and-mayor voting plan, because the city passed the rule change by simple ordinance rather than securing the charter change the state constitution requires. The court's ruling leaves the 2022 and 2024 election outcomes untouched, but bars use of the district map going forward unless the General Assembly (which passed a charter-amendment bill in 2024, but was vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin) or city voters cure the defect. The City Council has already scheduled a November referendum asking residents whether to keep the 10 single-member districts or revert to…

Local RedistrictingVirginia

U.S. District Court Dismisses 2nd Lawsuit Calling for New House Elections

By EditorAug 23, 2022

A U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va has rejected a lawsuit aimed at dissolving Virginia's 2021 House of Delegates election. Plaintiffs in the case had urged the court to order a new election due to the delay in census data caused by the Covid-19 health crisis. The 2021 election was conducted using legislative district maps drawn after the 2010 census because updated census data from 2020 was not available to redraw maps in enough time for the scheduled statewide election. The plaintiffs sued the state election board on the basis that conducting the election using the old maps - based…

Case Updates, Casedocs, Redistricting Litigationlawindepth, STATENEWS, Virginia

VA State Supreme Court Approves New Congressional and State Legislative Maps after Commission Misses Deadline

By EditorDec 28, 2021

After the Virginia Redistricting Commission failed to submit a redistricting plan by the governing statutorydeadlines, the Supreme Court of Virginia assumed responsibility for the establishment of congressional and state legislative boundaries following the 2020 census. On Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021, the court accepted the special masters' recommendation for maps and adopted final maps for the state. Read the court's final order below. Click on maps to go to interactive map viewer. Congressional Senate House

HOME, LATEST, Redistricting, Redistricting Commissions, Redistricting Functionspolicyindepth, redistricting commissions, STATENEWS, Virginia

Redistricting Headlines Oct 12 2021: Virginia Commission Implodes, Misses Map Deadline. Oregon Republicans Sue. CO and MI Adopt Maps.

By EditorOct 12, 2021

A quick look at redistricting-related news across the USA. National Spotlight: Virginia Redistricting Commission Conflict Produced Tense Moments Last Friday. On Friday, citizen commissioner and co-chair Greta Harris walked out of Friday's meeting of the commission after a tense debate and disagreement over which state legislative maps to recommend to the legislature. This caused the deadlocked commission to miss its initial legal deadline for making its recommendation since several other commissioners walked out with the co-chair as well. Shortly after Harris's exit, she clarified that she had not resigned from the commission, but simply chose to walk out of the…

NEWS, Redistricting, Redistricting Commissions, Redistricting Functionscolorado, headlines, Michigan, Oregon, Virginia

VA Redistricting Commission Implodes as Three Commissioners Walk Out

By EditorOct 08, 2021

On Friday, the VA Redistricting Commission's Democratic co-chair Greta Harris, called it quits and walked out of the public meeting of the commission flanked by two more citizen commissioners. The remaining members and staff were left visibly stunned. Watch the video of Harris' resignation and the aftermath below. As of this writing, it is not clear if the Commission will have a quorum to meet on Saturday as scheduled since some members appeared to hold out hope that Harris and the others might return. In the event that they do not, the State Supreme Court would step in after a…

LATEST, NEWS, Redistricting, Redistricting Commissions, Redistricting Functions, VIDEOredistricting commissions, STATENEWS, Va redistricting commission, Virginia

Redistricting Headlines Oct 6 2021: Indiana Adopts Maps. Arizona Begins Map-Drawing and Virginia Commission is at a Stalemate

By EditorOct 06, 2021

A quick look at redistricting-related news across the USA. Arizona: In first moves to draw political maps, Arizona redistricting panel eyes major changes Colorado: Colorado congressional redistricting: Latino advocates, others object to map at state supreme court Indiana: Gov. Holcomb signs Indiana's redistricting maps into law Iowa: Iowa Legislature meets to consider redistricting maps Maryland: In Maryland, 2 separate redistricting commissions look to redraw the legislative map Michigan: Redistricting panel nears end of mapping process, start of public hearing period Michigan: Expert: Michigan redistricting panel can make maps fairer Virginia: ‘We’re sort of stuck:’ Va. Redistricting Commission divided over race…

RedistrictingArizona, headlines, Indiana, Virginia

VA Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Prisoner Reallocation Law

By EditorSep 23, 2021

The Virginia Supreme Court has rejected a legal challenge to a state law that changes how prison inmates are counted for purposes of redistricting. The petition for a writ of mandamus from the court had alleged that the Virginia legislature acted outside of the "prescribed constitutional amendment process" when it enacted statutory criteria regarding the reallocation of prisoners. It argued that while the commission along with other redistricting criteria was created through referendum and constitutional amendments, the prisoner reallocation statute was not and thus violates the state constitution. The petition had asked the state supreme court to prohibit the commission…

Case Updates, Casedocs, LAW, NEWS, Redistricting Litigation, Redistricting Prisoners, State LawsCASEDOCS, lawindepth, lpstatelaw, policyindepth, Prison gerrymandering, prisoner reallocation, STATENEWS, Virginia

VA State Redistricting Commission Divided on Map Drawing Approach

By EditorAug 06, 2021

The Virginia Redistricting Commission was advised its lawyers to revise existing maps rather than start from scratch, due to time and resources constraints. Read the full wvtf.org story. Listen to audio excerpts from the commission meeting below. Full commission meeting video is available on the Virginia state almanac page. Virginia Public Radio : WVTF (Aug 4, 2021)

NEWS, Official Redistricting Entities, POLICY and PRACTICE, Redistricting, Redistricting Commissions, Redistricting FunctionsEntities, IN-DEPTH, STATENEWS, Virginia

Watch: The New Virginia Redistricting Commission Conducts its First Full Meeting

By EditorJan 31, 2021

The brand new 2021 Virginia Redistricting Commission is up and running. This is new for the state, so all eyes will be on the 16-member commission as redistricting looms. You can watch the meetings here on RedistrictingOnline. Watch commission meetings via Redistrictingonline's Youtube playlist or the Virginia state info page to keep up to date on the commission and redistricting in Virginia in general. The commission is made up of eight citizen members and eight members of the state General Assembly. The commission held its first meeting as a full commission on January 21. There will lots for the commissioners…

FEATURES, LATEST, POLICY and PRACTICE, Redistricting, Redistricting Commissions, VIDEOcommission, meetings, policyindepth, redistricting, STATENEWS, States, Virginia

Redistrictingonline Monthly Redistricting Update (March 2017)

By EditorApr 04, 2017

Politics Roll Call interviews National Democratic Redistricting Committee Executive Director Kelly Ward about its strategy going into 2020: Watch: Inside the Democrat Party’s National Redistricting Strategy In-Depth Late in 2016, PBS’s American Law Journal gave an in-depth treatment of gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. Hosts interview lawmakers, review the technology behind redistricting and cover reform efforts: Watch: PBS Covers Pennsylvania Gerrymandering and Reform In-Depth Litigation Six years in the making, a federal district court panel released its opinion late last month in the long arduous litigation we call Texas Redistricting. We explain what that means and survey the news coverage in Texas Congressional Districts Invalidated by…

RedistrictingArizona, Florida, reform, Texas, texas redistricting, Virginia