When Virginia legislators convened several weeks ago to redraw the lines of the state's House and Senate districts, there was hope the state finally would escape its endless cycle of partisan gerrymandering. After all, Gov. Bob McDonnell had created the Independent Bipartisan Advisory Commission on Redistricting, and the 2011 Virginia College and University Legislative Redistricting Competition had allowed teams of students - including two prize-winning groups from the University - to contribute to the process by drafting their own proposals. Yet as the House and the Senate finalized their redistricting plans during the past week and sent them to McDonnell for his signature, it became painfully evident that nothing had changed in the nature of redistricting in Virginia.
The proposals both aim to reinforce the positions of majority-party incumbents at the expense of political opponents. In the Republican-controlled House, this means Minority Leader Ward Armstrong, D-Henry, will see his existing seat literally disappear as it is absorbed by a bordering Republican district. In the Democratic-controlled Senate, it means Prince William County will be cleaved into seven different districts and Alexandria City will be split between three districts to maximize Democratic representation in Northern Virginia.
Sadly, this is the same sort of unfair outcome that has occurred in the past as a result of the perverse incentives facing politicians who are tasked with drawing up the boundaries within which they will run for re-election. Individual legislators work very hard to create districts that incorporate concentrated groups of supportive constituents, while the parties as a whole strive to punish the opposition by eliminating its stronghold districts and diluting its voter base.
Nevertheless, this year's process had the potential to be different. Because of the increased attention given to redistricting's flawed nature, McDonnell made a promise during the 2009 gubernatorial campaign to create an independent redistricting commission that materialized this year. Moreover, students were able to involve themselves in the process for the first time by using online redistricting software created by the Public Mapping Project to participate in the legislative redistricting competition. These two developments led to the proposal of several valid redistricting plans that satisfy legal criteria and do not thoughtlessly break apart established constituencies to promote the re-election chances of various politicians.
There is no doubt these plans are more fair to voters than those put forth by the two legislative chambers. In fact, the commission's Senate plan only divides 72 cities and counties, which is barely more than half the number of municipalities divided in the Senate's official map. In its House proposal, the commission breaks up 153 cities and counties whereas House legislators split 194. Perhaps nowhere is the difference in contours more stark than in the Charlottesville area, however. Although the commission keeps the proposed 25th Senate District encompassing Charlottesvile and Albemarle County confined to a block of territory in Central Virginia, its official Senate counterpart has the 25th District snaking through Nelson County, the City of Buena Vista and Bath County until it reaches the state's western border.
With neither party's legislative caucus willing to take the political risk of endorsing such an alternative proposal, it is up to McDonnell to show the leadership he pledged during his campaign when he said, "I do believe that we need to institute bipartisan redistricting to ensure greater citizen involvement, and the vigorous exercise of democracy that is the prerequisite for successful government." If McDonnell meant those words, then he must reject the proposals offered by the House and the Senate and instruct the two bodies to present him with plans that draw from the more sensible approaches taken by students and his own commission.
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