The Virginia Redistricting Commission met today to discuss a pre-recorded presentation by Julie Smith from the Division of Legislative Services (DLS), an Introduction to the Mechanics of Redistricting. The meeting was chaired by Mackenzie Babichenko.
Ms. Smith discussed shape files and the purpose the redistricting software serves; the building blocks or geographic units used in redistricting; and shared examples of how to use the redistricting software. Ms. Smith also clarified that the software can be used to highlight communities of color through a separate layer; and that the software involves a manual process, but that she will verify whether the software will allow for an automated mapping process.
Brooks Braun, an attorney at DLS presented a table comparing all of the previously established citizen-led redistricting commissions in other states. This table can be found on pages 4-6 of this document on the DLS website. Mr. Braun discussed the different timelines, map ownership, and partisan and nonpartisan legal counsel that other states have used. The states with more compressed timelines like Virginia are New Jersey and Kentucky, which also have odd year elections. Both of these states amended their constitutions to allow more time. Mr. Braun also mentioned that the Virginia Redistricting Commission can learn from these other commissions, specifically where spending and the creation of RFPs are concerned.
The members of the budget and finance subcommittee and the citizen engagement subcommittee were shared again, and it was reiterated that these are work groups that will not be making final decisions on their own. The following subcommittee meeting dates were announced:
Budget and Finance subcommittee
Wednesday, May 19th at 2pm
Tuesday, May 25th at 10am
Thursday, May 27th at 10am
Citizen Engagement subcommittee
May 17th at 2pm
May 20th at 10am
May 26th at 10am
Sen. Barker recognized that Amigo Wade was officially appointed as the director of the DLS, and four citizens made public comments:
Dolores Dwyer of Southern Albemarle County commented on the use of incumbents’ addresses as a factor in redistricting, reminding the Commissioners that it is not derived from law and should not affect the map drawing process.
Ken Chasin of Charlottesville said that Congressional districts should be redistricted if their demographics do not fall within 95-105% of the state average for Congressional districts.
Erin Corbett of VCET informed the audience of their mapping events every Tuesday at 6:00pm.
Liz White of OneVirginia2021 invited the Commissioners to a joint event with the LWV, a Redistricting Deep Dive Webinar that will feature experts on every step of the redistricting process.
You can find the meeting recording as well as written comments submitted by the public here.