Brilliant article! Thank you for explaining the rationale behind voting YES clearly as a duty to stand up against a movement which seeks perpetual authority!
Thank you - although our goal isn’t to promote YES or NO but to bust some myths and ensure everyone has the information they need to decide for themselves. We know our perspective isn’t the be-all and end-all, too, and hope we can have an open debate about the referendum as a whole. Here’s hoping…!
Thank you as always! You didn't myth anything. I honestly think many voters didn't understand what happened with the 2020 bi-partisan commission. As I've said I didn't vote for it because cynical me figured if Republicans were pushing it they knew it would deadlock and go the the VA Supreme Court. I loved the idea in theory. I hope in 2030 it works as it should. I agree that Wittman's days are numbered...but won't assume until he's literally gone. Again thanks!! Keep up the good work for VA-01!!!
You’re welcome! The independent commission is flawed but hopefully not fatally, and returning to it in 2031 (as the law will require) will hopefully be more effective than the 2021 process. The flaw is this: if the commission cant agree on maps, the process gets thrown to the judiciary. And if that is stacked with partisan actors (and don’t even get us started on judges being associated with a given party!), the “independence” of the process gets thrown out the window entirely. But that’s a thing to fix on another day…!
The Supreme Court could have banned gerrymandering nationwide but in all their diminished wisdom allowed individual states to decide.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rucho_v._Common_Cause
Also the Democratic championed 2022 John Lewis bill in congress would have banned national gerrymandering but all Republicans voted against it.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/road-not-taken-gerrymandering
EXCELLENT points! As a nation, we *can* do something about gerrymandering but we currently lack the collective will to handle it at all.
Brilliant article! Thank you for explaining the rationale behind voting YES clearly as a duty to stand up against a movement which seeks perpetual authority!
Thank you - although our goal isn’t to promote YES or NO but to bust some myths and ensure everyone has the information they need to decide for themselves. We know our perspective isn’t the be-all and end-all, too, and hope we can have an open debate about the referendum as a whole. Here’s hoping…!
Thank you as always! You didn't myth anything. I honestly think many voters didn't understand what happened with the 2020 bi-partisan commission. As I've said I didn't vote for it because cynical me figured if Republicans were pushing it they knew it would deadlock and go the the VA Supreme Court. I loved the idea in theory. I hope in 2030 it works as it should. I agree that Wittman's days are numbered...but won't assume until he's literally gone. Again thanks!! Keep up the good work for VA-01!!!
You’re welcome! The independent commission is flawed but hopefully not fatally, and returning to it in 2031 (as the law will require) will hopefully be more effective than the 2021 process. The flaw is this: if the commission cant agree on maps, the process gets thrown to the judiciary. And if that is stacked with partisan actors (and don’t even get us started on judges being associated with a given party!), the “independence” of the process gets thrown out the window entirely. But that’s a thing to fix on another day…!
Your cynicism may have been warranted as conservative donations were backing the Virginia One referendum and that confused me also.
https://bluevirginia.us/2020/08/texas-hedge-fund-billionaires-funding-virginia-redistricting-amendment-effort-give-250k-donation-to-onevirginia-2021/
Now that it has passed no Democratic politicians can explain why they want to abandon it.
The final arbiter of the gerrymandering commission was retired ? Justices of Virginia’s Supreme Court.
I read somewhere that their political bias was in question as would make any commission impossible.
Yet Virginia justices political affiliations are not made public.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_justices_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_Virginia
If the commission fails to agree, the process goes to the judiciary, which has its own problems.
What an excellent presentation and discussion of the issues, arguments and realities of this situation. I will be sharing it far and wide.
Fantastic! Thank you.