With the passage of the Virginia map, Democrats had mostly succeeded in reaching a draw with Republicans in the redistricting wars. But with the Virginia map overturned and Southern states—including Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, and South Carolina—rushing to pass new maps before the midterms, Democrats could face a four to five-seat disadvantage heading into November, according to Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report. While that is not insurmountable in a wave election—and Democrats could still pick up two seats in Virginia under the existing map—it gives Democrats little margin for error in the effort to take back the House.
In the 4-3 decision, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the April referendum violated the state Constitution because amendments must be passed twice by the legislature, with an election in between. The first time they passed it was after early voting started, so it doesn’t count. “This constitutional violation incurably taints the resulting referendum vote,” the court wrote, “and nullifies its legal efficacy.”
The decision effectively tosses out three million votes cast in the referendum on a legal technicality. It’s worth noting that voters in red states have not been able to weigh in on any of the mid-decade gerrymanders passed by their legislatures. And while those states have different laws than Virginia, voters in Florida and Ohio did pass prohibitions on gerrymandering that their legislatures flagrantly ignored—but conservative-dominated state supreme courts in those states are unlikely to void the new maps.
The other states are changing their maps without consulting the citizens, Virginia should just do the same.
Also,
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As much as elections are and forever should be in the purview of the states, some things like anti-gerrymandering laws should be standardized at the federal level.
Breaking it up by state only disadvantages the ones who put redistricting in the hands of independent commissions while allowing the one’s with highly asymmetrical legislatures in charge of redrawing maps to continue blatant gerrymandering (coincidentally it tends to be republican states that do this, hmm I wonder why…)
Yeah… I agree with the quoted tweet, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen.
While I agree with the sentiment, every state is different. In GA the legislature and governor can change the districts without a public vote. That is the law. Sometimes I feel like it’s forgotten that each of the 50 states have their own laws about redistricting.
The voting rights act placed limits on the power for states to redistrict at will (for very good and obvious reasons). Now that the law is gutted we revert back to each individual state having more control.
I do think this is a bad thing, but it’s way too simplistic to say GA did xyz so Virginia can too. With the federal standard gone they each have different laws and ultimately different supreme courts.
I do think the conservative courts will ultimately move to quash blue redistricting in states that have mixed representation (ie red court blue legislature). However thankfully states like California and other blue bastion have liberal state courts.