Our Big News

Introducing UpVote Virginia -- a newly-formed nonpartisan democracy reform collective aiming to elevate the voices of Virginia voters through making elections stronger and more equitable. This is the next iteration of the success we’ve built with OneVirginia2021. New name, new leadership, new mission, new conversation.

You can see more information at UpVoteVA.org.

Our Mission

OneVirginia2021 is dedicated to ensuring that Virginia leads the way in improving the structure of our electoral system to better reflect the will of voters, thus providing for a more representative, inclusive, open, and transparent government.

Our Philosophy

We believe that partisan gerrymandering - the deliberate manipulation of legislative district lines to benefit a party or individual - is overtly harmful to our democracy. Our goal is to mitigate the problems that come from this practice, including:

• Ending the fracturing of communities

• Increasing electoral competition

• Finding common ground by de-incentivizing extreme partisan influences

It is a conflict of interest for the legislature to be the sole decider when their own district lines are redrawn. 

History has shown that elected officials regularly draw maps to keep themselves in power, and both parties have participated in this practice for centuries. Ending these unfair and discriminatory laws isn’t about right vs. left - it’s about right vs. wrong.

Virginia's Redistricting Reform Movement

OneVirginia2021’s existing nonprofit entities include a 501(c)(4) advocacy group and this independent 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit, OneVirginia2021 Foundation. 

The Foundation’s work promotes nonpartisan redistricting reform in the Commonwealth of Virginia through research, analysis, and education. As a registered 501(c)(3), we do not engage in or attempt to influence any legislative, campaign or advocacy issues.

**NOVEMBER 4 UPDATE: A STATEMENT FROM BOARD PRESIDENT, SHARRON KITCHEN MILLER

“Since 2014, the OneVirginia2021 Foundation has been educating voters across Virginia about the Commonwealth's broken system of redistricting and the need to reform it. Tonight, voters were clear in their agreement by overwhelmingly supporting Amendment 1 on their ballots.

The passage of this referendum will mark a significant step forward in removing partisanship from this important process, and as the educational component of OneVirginia2021, we look forward to assisting the newly-approved redistricting commission as they begin their work.”

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“Henry-Mandering”

As with many aspects of Virginia’s history, we start in colonial times. In 1788, Governor Patrick Henry went out of his way to design a congressional district that he felt sure his rival and avid Federalist, James Madison, couldn’t win. He propped up James Monroe, his fellow Anti-Federalist, in the only congressional race in history to pit two future presidents against each other, but Madison managed to win, despite this early attempt at manipulating districts by Governor Henry.

Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry may have gotten naming rights, but Henry’s scheme predated Gerry’s 1812 adventures in creative cartography by more than two decades.

Today’s Maps

Our current political boundaries were drawn in 2011. That year, the Virginia General Assembly was split: the House of Delegates was held by Republicans and the State Senate was held by Democrats. Redistricting reform advocates hoped that this divided government would provide an opportunity for real reform.

Instead, Virginians got a bipartisan gerrymander - maps that were drawn to protect the majority in each chamber, to the detriment of lawmakers in the minority party and, more importantly, to all Virginia voters.