Redistricting plans drawn up by the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate are ready for review by Gov. Bob McDonell. The House approved a new plan yesterday, while the Senate passed a separate redistricting proposal last Thursday.
The plans propose new boundaries for the separate districts represented by the commonwealth's House and Senate. Legislators are required to recreate these boundaries every 10 years to maintain a consistent number of residents within each area. These new divisions are intended to reflect the data revealed in the United States census results.
McDonnell will analyze both branches' plans during the next seven days. He must pass the proposals, veto them or send them back to the House and Senate with amendments.
"Our Administration has been reviewing the evolving draft plans since last week, and I will now commence my formal review of this legislation," McDonnell said in a statement released Friday. "I will take action ... based on a thorough review of the plans consistent with federal and state law, in the time period allotted by the Constitution of Virginia."
McDonnell spokesperson Jeff Caldwell said the governor will look for legislative districts that make sense both geographically and based on "communities of interests."
There is some disagreement on party lines about the success of the new plans.
Isaac Wood, communications director for the University Center for Politics and former Cavalier Daily opinion columnist, said the House plan most likely will reflect Republican interest.
"In the House of Delegates, because the redistricting process was controlled by Republicans ... most of the districts are likely to become safer for the Republican incumbents," Wood said. "There are a few Democrats that are endangered by these changes, such as the minority democratic leader [Ward] Armstrong."
Many Republicans, however, believe the Senate plan breaks up localities and creates divisions where it should not. Wood said essentially the opposite problem occurred in this branch.
"The Senate Democrats have drawn lines that have separated a lot of communities and towns," said Sen. Jeffrey McWaters, R-Virginia Beach. "The city of Chesapeake, with 150,000 people, does not have a senator that's fully dedicated to or even primarily elected by the citizens. That's an example of not keeping historic boundaries together."
McWaters also said Virginia Beach, for the first time in 20 years, would have only one senator rather than two to represent its 200,000 people under the proposed plan.
"Those are just two examples where we're actually losing a Senate seat in addition to splitting up towns and regions," he said.
Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, said the plan, which removes one Senate seat in the eastern part of the state and one in the western part, reflects population shifts to Northern Virginia.
"We feel it fully complies with the Voting Rights Act," Edwards said. "It complies with all the constitutional requirements of compactness, contiguousness and the standards of the Supreme Court. [It also makes] sure there are a certain number of minority-influenced districts that African-Americans can be elected in based on their proportionality in the population. So those are important to be in the legislation as well, and it is fair to both parties."
McWaters said the plan needs to be revised to reflect both parties' interests, however.
"Sometimes you have to work with your competition," he said. "You call it 'coopetition' in business, and we need to get this resolved so we can get on with the people's business and not partisan politics."
Wood said he believes both parties employed the same strategy within the legislative bodies they control.
"They know how redistricting is done," Wood said. "This year was not done in a particularly novel way. Typically whatever side has the political power does what it can to protect its side and make life difficult for the other side"
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