Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Virginia redistricting reform now on course for voters' choice

The Virginia state flag and the American flag

Virginia is likely to hand over the redistricting authority to an independent commission in 2021.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

After a year of anticipation and consternation, Virginians now appear almost certain to be asked to vote this fall on turning legislative mapmaking over to more outsiders instead of the partisans whose political fortunes depend on the lines.

The state House is on course to vote before its scheduled adjournment Saturday on a proposal to turn redistricting over to an independent commission next year, when the lines for the General Assembly and 11 congressional districts will be repositioned for a decade in light of this year's census.

Passage would put the proposed amendment to the state Constitution on the November ballot, where it would be favored to pass — the biggest potential victory this year for those who say partisan gerrymandering is one of American democracy's biggest problems.


The key vote came Monday night, when after several delays the measure got through a committee with the votes of nine Republicans and four Democrats. Eight Democrats voted no.

The tally highlighted the unusual political dynamics in the debate.

Last year, the proposed amendment sailed through a divided legislature — the first of the two times in a row it must pass in order to get on the statewide ballot. A promise to finish redistricting reform then became a major theme for the Democrats as they campaigned successfully to turn the seats of power in Richmond all blue for the first time in a quarter-century.

But some Democrats arrived for this year's session with different plans in mind, especially since they now have the muscle to draw the next maps entirely to their liking. A crucial bloc of African-American and other legislators said they'd developed fresh worries that not enough protections were in place against racial discrimination in redistricting.

To replace the current process, in which the General Assembly passes and the governor approves new maps, the constitutional amendment would establish a 16-member bipartisan commission with equal numbers of lawmakers and other citizens — but would not give them any instructions for how to go about their work.

Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam has promised to sign legislation on his desk that would flesh out the process, including language telling the panel to make sure to protect the power of minority voters and keep communities of interest together.

That is not enough for the Democratic opponents of the new commission, who say they fear their constituents could be too easily shortchanged in the process — and who are fully aware, too, that an independent panel's maps might not keep as many districts as deeply blue and brightly red as they are now.

They also worry that, under the constitutional amendment, a Virginia Supreme Court that now has a reliably conservative majority could have the final say on the maps for the 2020s. Those judges would impose the lines, however, only if the General Assembly exercised its prerogative under the constitutional amendment to flatly reject the commission's cartography.

A coalition of 11 nonpartisan good-governance groups sent a letter to Virginia House members over the weekend, urging them to pass the constitutional amendment. "While the amendment is not perfect, it is a major step forward," they wrote.

Read More

Rear view diverse voters waiting for polling place to open
SDI Productions/Getty Images

Open Primaries Topic Creates a Major Tension for Independents

Open primaries create fine opportunities for citizens who are registered as independents or unaffiliated voters to vote for either Democrats or Republicans in primary elections, but they tacitly undermine the mission of those independents who are opposed to both major parties by luring them into establishment electoral politics. Indeed, independents who are tempted to support independent candidates or an independent political movement can be converted to advocates of our duopoly if their states have one form or another of Open Primaries.

Twenty U.S. states currently have Open Primaries for at least one political party at the presidential, congressional, and state levels, including Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin. At least 15 states conduct "semi-closed" primaries, a middle position in which unaffiliated voters still have an option to choose to vote in one of the major party primaries. 

Keep ReadingShow less
Voter registration
The national voter registration form is now available in 20 non-English languages, including three Native American languages.
SDI Productions

With Ranked Choice Voting in NYC, Women Win

As New York prepares to choose its next city council and mayor in primaries this week, it’s worth remembering that the road to gender equality in the nation’s largest city has been long and slow.

Before 2021, New York’s 51-member council had always been majority male. Women hadn’t even gotten close to a majority. The best showing had been 18 seats, just a tick above 35 percent.

Keep ReadingShow less
Independent Voters Just Got Power in Nevada – if the Governor Lets It Happen

"On Las Vegas Boulevard" sign.

Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash. Unplash+ license obtained by IVN Editor Shawn Griffiths.

Independent Voters Just Got Power in Nevada – if the Governor Lets It Happen

CARSON CITY, NEV. - A surprise last-minute bill to open primary elections to Nevada’s largest voting bloc, registered unaffiliated voters, moved quickly through the state legislature and was approved by a majority of lawmakers on the last day of the legislative session Monday.

The bill, AB597, allows voters not registered with a political party to pick between a Republican and Democratic primary ballot in future election cycles. It does not apply to the state’s presidential preference elections, which would remain closed to registered party members.

Keep ReadingShow less
Voter registration

In April 2025, the SAVE Act has been reintroduced in the 119th Congress and passed the House, with a much stronger chance of becoming law given the current political landscape.

SDI Productions

The SAVE Act: Addressing a Non-Existent Problem at the Cost of Voter Access?

In July 2024, I wrote about the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act when it was first introduced in Congress. And Sarah and I discussed it in an episode of Beyond the Bill Number which you can still listen to. Now, in April 2025, the SAVE Act has been reintroduced in the 119th Congress and passed the House, with a much stronger chance of becoming law given the current political landscape. It's time to revisit this legislation and examine its implications for American voters.

Read the IssueVoter analysis of the bill here for further insight and commentary.

Keep ReadingShow less