There was widespread disappointment when it was revealed that nationally only about 21 percent of eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 29 voted in the 2010 congressional midterm elections, according to The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. University students and those at 12 other Virginia colleges, however, are challenging the perception of apathy that characterizes young citizens by participating in the 2011 Virginia College and University Legislative Redistricting Competition.
This initiative gives teams of students the chance to use online software developed by the Public Mapping Project to redraw the state's legislative districts using data from the 2010 census. Yet as innovative as this competition is, the process behind official redistricting by the state General Assembly is so warped that it calls into question whether political disinterest is even the primary reason for low turnout among young voters or whether the elected officials themselves might be more to blame.
The cause of Virginia's redistricting dysfunction is no secret - in fact, it is inherent to the structure of the system. Every 10 years after census data is released, legislators in the Virginia House of Delegates and the Senate review the updated information and draw new boundaries for the state's legislative districts. Rather than taking into account actual shifts in population and voter demographic makeup, though, the leadership in each chamber generally crafts districts oriented toward the goal of entrenching its party's control over the legislative process. Thus, incumbent majority members are protected by shifting loyal party voters into their districts while minority party legislators see their districts redrawn so as to make their reelection more difficult.
Those participating in the college redistricting competition are taking an alternative approach. Students are able to use online software similar to that which is used by legislators. The software includes information from the 2010 census, including population breakdowns based on race and party-affiliation on the level of individual census blocks. The teams must develop plans with districts that are equally populated, feature a partisan division that roughly mirrors the state's voting pattern from the past two national elections and comply with provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act. The teams with the best proposals will win cash prizes and have an opportunity to present their proposals to Gov. Bob McDonnell's newly created Independent Bipartisan Advisory Commission on Redistricting.
Although this is theoretically the perfect culmination of a program meant to stimulate student engagement in politics, the commission to which the proposal will be presented is handicapped by the partisan politics of the General Assembly. Because the Republican-controlled House has refused for the past eight years to pass legislation giving such an independent panel the authority to draft redistricting plans that would be voted upon mandatorily by the legislature, McDonnell's commission is powerless. Thus, even if its plan - or one produced by a student team - is objectively superior to the one agreed upon by self-interested legislators, there will be little recourse for Virginia voters who will continue to endure a slew of uncontested elections and gerrymandered districts for the next 10 years.
The true value of the competition, however, lies in what it portends for the future. Politics Prof. Charles Kromkowski, one of the sponsors of the University's teams, said the software used by students still suffers from a variety of bugs and is not yet available to the public, but he indicated that once it is refined and proliferated it could lead to a cottage industry of citizen-crafted redistricting plans. This has powerful potential because the Supreme Court has ruled in the past that state redistricting plans that fail to meet sufficient criteria for equal representation can be struck down and replaced with alternatives generated by private citizens.
Given the partisan maneuvering that continues in the General Assembly ahead of this year's redistricting, this might be the only hope for voters who wish to see more competitive elections in the future. With any luck, current students are starting a movement to such an outcome that will bear fruit by the time they pass the torch to a new generation of young voters after the 2020 census.
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