Measure on the ballot in the 2020 Virginia General Election in Virginia.
View your personalized ballot, check your voter registration, make a plan to vote, and research every name and measure on the ballot with BallotReady.
Get StartedUnder the current Constitution, the General Assembly and the Governor are responsible for drawing new election districts for the U.S. House of Representatives, the state Senate, and the House of Delegates. These districts are required to be compact and contiguous, and to have populations that are equal to each other. The proposed amendment would shift the responsibility of drawing these election districts from the General Assembly and the Governor to a bipartisan commission, made up of 16 persons, half being members of the General Assembly and half being citizens of the Commonwealth. This commission would draw the election districts for the U.S. House of Representatives, the state Senate, and the House of Delegates and then submit the maps to the General Assembly for approval. If the commissioners are unable to agree on proposals for maps by a certain date, or if the General Assembly does not approve the submitted maps by a certain date, the commission is allotted additional time to draw new districts, but if maps are not then submitted or approved, the Supreme Court of Virginia becomes responsible for drawing these election districts. The eight legislative commissioners are appointed by the political party leadership in the state Senate and the House of Delegates, with an equal number from each house and from each major political party. The eight citizen commissioners are picked by a committee of five retired circuit court judges. Four of the retired judges are selected by party leaders in the Senate and the House from a list compiled by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia. These four judges pick the fifth judge from the same list. This selection committee then chooses citizen commissioners from lists created by party leaders in the Senate and the House. Members and employees of Congress or the General Assembly cannot be citizen commissioners. Each party leader in each house gives the selection committee a list of at least 16 candidates, and the committee picks two from each list for a total of eight citizen commissioners. For a plan to be submitted for the General Assembly’s approval, at least six of the eight citizen commissioners and at least six of the eight legislative commissioners must agree to it. Additionally, for plans for General Assembly districts to be submitted, at least three of the four Senators on the commission have to agree to the Senate districts plan and at least three of the four Delegates on the commission have to agree to the House of Delegates districts plan. The General Assembly cannot make any changes to these plans, and the Governor cannot veto any plan approved by the General Assembly. The amendment also adds a requirement that districts provide, where practicable, opportunities for racial and ethnic communities to elect candidates of their choice.
A "yes" vote on this amendment is a vote to make a bipartisan commission responsible for the initial drawing of election districts.
A "NO" vote on this amendment is a vote to leave the sole responsibility for drawing the districts with the General Assembly and the Governor.
"The constitutional amendment and redistricting commission would establish the clearest, fairest and least political mechanism for drawing fair districts in Virginia’s 400-year legislative history. We are urging our colleagues of both parties to support it and for members of the public to let all of us know that after 400 years of Virginia politicians drawing districts to serve their own political interests, all Virginians are ready for a new way of doing business.", in support of Proposed Constitutional Amendment #1 (Learn more)
“Although this bipartisan plan does not reflect every provision we urged in our original proposal, make no mistake: This reform will end partisan gerrymandering in Virginia.”, in support of Proposed Constitutional Amendment #1 (Learn more)
“I don’t think its better than what we have now and in fact I think it takes a step back because now at least we have African Americans at the table and in the room, I would be willing to bet this reform will lead to African Americans not even being involved in the process.”, in opposition to Proposed Constitutional Amendment #1 (Learn more)
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?
View your personalized ballot, check your voter registration, make a plan to vote, and research every name and measure on the ballot with BallotReady.