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

An oversized ballot box surrounded by people.

Young people worldwide form new parties to reshape politics—yet America’s two-party system blocks them.

Getty Images, J Studios

No Country for Young Politicians—and How To Fix That

In democracies around the world, young people have started new political parties whenever the establishment has sidelined their views or excluded them from policymaking. These parties have sometimes reinvigorated political competition, compelled established parties to take previously neglected issues seriously, or encouraged incumbent leaders to find better ways to include and reach out to young voters.

In Europe, a trio in their twenties started Volt in 2017 as a pan-European response to Brexit, and the party has managed to win seats in the European Parliament and in some national legislatures. In Germany, young people concerned about climate change created Klimaliste, a party committed to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as per the Paris Agreement. Although the party hasn’t won seats at the federal level, they have managed to win some municipal elections. In Chile, leaders of the 2011 student protests, who then won seats as independent candidates, created political parties like Revolución Democrática and Convergencia Social to institutionalize their movements. In 2022, one of these former student leaders, Gabriel Boric, became the president of Chile at 36 years old.

Keep ReadingShow less
How To Fix Gerrymandering: A Fair-Share Rule for Congressional Redistricting

Demonstrators gather outside of The United States Supreme Court during an oral arguments in Gill v. Whitford to call for an end to partisan gerrymandering on October 3, 2017 in Washington, DC

Getty Images, Olivier Douliery

How To Fix Gerrymandering: A Fair-Share Rule for Congressional Redistricting

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground. ~ Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Col. Edward Carrington, Paris, 27 May 1788

The Problem We Face

The U.S. House of Representatives was designed as the chamber of Congress most directly tethered to the people. Article I of the Constitution mandates that seats be apportioned among the states according to population and that members face election every two years—design features meant to keep representatives responsive to shifting public sentiment. Unlike the Senate, which prioritizes state sovereignty and representation, the House translates raw population counts into political voice: each House district is to contain roughly the same number of residents, ensuring that every citizen’s vote carries comparable weight. In principle, then, the House serves as the nation’s demographic mirror, channeling the diverse preferences of the electorate into lawmaking and acting as a safeguard against unresponsive or oligarchic governance.

Nationally, the mismatch between the overall popular vote and the partisan split in House seats is small, with less than a 1% tilt. But state-level results tell a different story. Take Connecticut: Democrats hold all five seats despite Republicans winning over 40% of the statewide vote. In Oklahoma, the inverse occurs—Republicans control every seat even though Democrats consistently earn around 40% of the vote.

Keep ReadingShow less
Once Again, Politicians Are Choosing Their Voters. It’s Time for Voters To Choose Back.
A pile of political buttons sitting on top of a table

Once Again, Politicians Are Choosing Their Voters. It’s Time for Voters To Choose Back.

Once again, politicians are trying to choose their voters to guarantee their own victories before the first ballot is cast.

In the latest round of redistricting wars, Texas Republicans are attempting a rare mid-decade redistricting to boost their advantage ahead of the 2026 midterms, and Democratic governors in California and New York are signaling they’re ready to “fight fire with fire” with their own partisan gerrymanders.

Keep ReadingShow less
Stolen Land, Stolen Votes: Native Americans Defending the VRA Protects Us All – and We Should Support Them

Wilson Deschine sits at the "be my voice" voter registration stand at the Navajo Nation annual rodeo, in Window Rock.

Getty Images, David Howells

Stolen Land, Stolen Votes: Native Americans Defending the VRA Protects Us All – and We Should Support Them

On July 24, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked a Circuit Court order in a far-reaching case that could affect the voting rights of all Americans. Native American tribes and individuals filed the case as part of their centuries-old fight for rights in their own land.

The underlying subject of the case confronts racial gerrymandering against America’s first inhabitants, where North Dakota’s 2021 redistricting reduced Native Americans’ chances of electing up to three state representatives to just one. The specific issue that the Supreme Court may consider, if it accepts hearing the case, is whether individuals and associations can seek justice under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). That is because the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, contradicting other courts, said that individuals do not have standing to bring Section 2 cases.

Keep ReadingShow less