A three-judge federal court panel is currently seeking the help of an independent special master to submit new plans for Virginia’s district maps. This decision follows state legislators’ failure to redraw Virginia’s congressional districts in response to a court order to do so. The court order stipulated that if legislators failed to submit a new map by Sept. 1, the court would take over the process of redistricting.
Racial gerrymandering — a form of redistricting that aims to pack minority voters into one or few districts to confine their voting power — has been an issue in Virginia for a long time. In particular, Virginia’s 3rd District, which extends from Richmond to Hampton Roads, exemplifies racial gerrymandering as the state’s only black-majority district. The 3rd District was the focal point of previous court orders to redraw Virginia’s map.
The General Assembly’s propensity to draw unfair district maps is already troubling, but it is especially troubling that legislators would essentially ignore a court order to address this inequality. Not only are legislators perpetuating an unfair arrangement; they are ignoring a time-tested system of checks and balances necessary for the functioning of our state government. Our legislators have a duty to act on policy.
While both Republicans and Democrats across the country are guilty of gerrymandering, in this particular case the Republican majority in the General Assembly has repeatedly stood in the way of the creation of a better district map. Democrats have proposed three formal redistricting plans since the October 2014 court order that required a revised redistricting plan; Republicans have ignored all three plans and have refused to create any of their own.
This stubbornness will ultimately backfire on Republican legislators, as an independent source for Virginia’s district map may not kowtow to their concerns and will not be forced to compromise over certain regions. In all likelihood, the new map will unpack the 3rd District in a way that will remove Republicans’ current advantage.
Essentially, Republican legislators have picked a losing side in this judicial fight, to the detriment of their future candidates. We have written before on the significance of the injustice of racial gerrymandering, and the failure of Virginia legislators to address it is nothing short of undemocratic. But by Sept. 18, the court-ordered special master will address Virginia’s unfair map, and legislators will be forced to accept much-needed districting reform.
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