Stop Gerrymandering

Vote NO on Amendment 1

The Democratic Party of VA’s 2020 State Resolutions Package, adopted at the June Democratic Convention, rejected the VA Redistricting Commission Constitutional Amendment and urges all Virginians to Vote NO on Amendment 1.

Therefore, be it resolved, the Convention:

Strongly supports non-partisan or independent anti-gerrymandering reforms and urges all Virginians to oppose the constitutional amendment that will appear on the November 2020 general election ballot and would permanently cement a partisan commission in the constitution;

To ensure broad awareness among voters of the dilution of Democratic voting power that will occur as a result of the constitutional amendment, will encourage all local democratic committees to include opposition to the constitutional amendment on its general election sample ballot; and

Urges all Virginians to vote NO on the constitutional amendment and commits to support and continue work towards genuine nonpartisan or an independent redistricting process that prohibits gerrymandering and will be implemented for the 2021 redistricting process.

Refer to the complete DPVA 2020 State Resolutions Package, pg. 32

https://vademocrats.org/news/2020-democratic-party-of-virginia-state-convention-results/

If the amendment is passed in the November 2020 Election, it will cement a bi-partisan commission into the constitution and put all mapping power into hands of entrenched politicians, politically appointed citizens and politically appointed judges.  

The process for map reform won’t stop just because the Amendment fails to pass.  It will ignite –-> most Virginians are committed to ending Gerrymandering at this moment in time.  And the Democrats are committed to continuing work towards a genuine nonpartisan, independent redistricting process that prohibits gerrymandering to be implemented for 2021.

For the future goal of a fair, just and forward moving Virginia, we need to Vote No!

1.     VOTE NO to keep a flawed amendment out of our constitution.

(The amendment contains no anti-gerrymandering criteria and has no boundaries on who can be on the commission)

2.    VOTE NO to ensure the conservative State Supreme Court won’t draw our maps

(if just two politicians on the proposed 16 member commission oppose the maps – the Courts get to draw them up)

3.    VOTE NO to ensure racial inequities in mapping is stopped and ensures adequate protections for communities of color.

(It took nine years before the 2011 maps were finally adjusted following a US Supreme Court Decision)

4.    VOTE NO to ensure entrenched politicians don’t get to keep on getting elected because they have no competition in their districts.

(Don’t allow politicians to continue to pick their voters  The voters should pick their representation. Even the patron of the amendment said it protects the interest of the legislators).

5.    VOTE NO so we can set up a system like other progressive states that have a citizen’s commission that relies on subject matter experts in demography and cartography and not on backrooms and oil billionaires.

( Who is funding the Amendment Lobbying Group?)

For additional detailed information about achieving Fair Districts in VA go to ==> FairDistrictsVA.com
Want to Know More?

WHAT IS THE REDISTRICTING AMENDMENT?

Ballot Referendum 1, on the November 3 General Election ballot, is the Redistricting Constitutional Amendment. The appearance of the Amendment is that it resolves inequities in representation in the Virginia Legislature by supposedly developing fair voting districts. You can read the Amendment yourself at Redistricting Amendment .

In fact, the amendment enshrines gerrymandering in the state constitution! You should vote NO!

IS THE AMENDMENT A GOOD THING FOR VIRGINIA?

If so, then why does the Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA) oppose Amendment 1 and recommend voting NO?

If so, then why does the NoVA Democratic Committees (Fairfax County, Falls Church City, Loudoun, Shenandoah, and Arlington) & VAYD (VA Young Democrats) oppose Amendment and recommend voting NO?

You can read the Fairfax Democrat’s resolution at Susan Pederson’s Arguments Against the Flawed Amendment and you can access more information about the Arlington Democrat’s position at Arlington Democrats Vote NO on 1. There is more information from the Fairfax Democrats on the issue at Fairfax County Democrat’s Resolved to Vote NO

If so, then why does the House VLBC (VA Legislative Black Caucus), VA NAACP, New VA Majority, SEIU & Progressive VA oppose Amendment 1 and recommend voting NO?

If so, then why does Linda Perriello, former OneVirginia2021’s long-time board member, and a former supporter of the Amendment 1, recommend voting NO? You can read Linda’s statement at Linda Perriello rejects the Redistricting Amendment

Note that the Amendment has the following negative elements:

1) The Amendment makes no mention of gerrymandering and adopting it will not end gerrymandering. 

2) The Virginia Legislature retains control of the redistricting process, with obvious partisan bias.

3) If any two legislators on the commission, all of whom are appointed by the Legislature with its significant partisan biases, oppose the conclusion of the Commission, the redistricting process would be sent to the Supreme Court of Virginia. These individuals are appointees of the Legislature and may retain some partisan bias.

WHAT WILL YOU SEE ON THE NOVEMBER 3 BALLOT? 

“Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to establish a redistricting commission, consisting of eight members of the General Assembly and eight citizens of the Commonwealth, that is responsible for drawing the congressional and state legislative districts that will be subsequently voted on, but not changed by, the General Assembly and enacted without the Governor’s involvement and to give the responsibility of drawing districts to the Supreme Court of Virginia if the redistricting commission fails to draw districts or the General Assembly fails to enact districts by certain deadlines.” <==When you see this Vote NO!

SO, HOW CAN WE DO BETTER?

  1. The Democratic Party of Virginia has endorsed having an independent commission composed of ordinary citizens. This would reduce the impact of Party bias.

  2. The Governor has signed HB1255 and SB717, which outlaw gerrymandering and ensure that minorities and communities of interest are properly represented.

  3. The Governor & General Assembly can establish an independent Commission by statute for 2021 while we work to pass a constitutional amendment that gets it right. The goal of this amendment will be to ensure non-partisan redistricting with proper public input and review.

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