Voters Guide to the Upcoming Redistricting of Virginia

The decennial sweepstakes over power and politics in Virginia kicks off in Fairfax on Saturday. The public is invited to a joint hearing convened by the Senate and House committees who are redrawing the state’s political boundary lines to accommodate population growth in Loudoun and Prince Williams counties.

Monday, the Virginia General Assembly opens in a special session whose sole purpose is to create two new Senate districts and four new House seats.  There are 100 seats in the General Assembly and 40 seats in the state Senate. Those numbers won't change. They just draw the district lines in a different way.

Here are the 5  questions that we ordinary citizen-voters have about this totally political process. 

1. Is Fairfax County affected by any of this?

No. None of the county's nine state senate seats or 17 House of Delegate seats will be affected by either the Democrat-controlled Senate or the Republican-controlled House proposals put forth for district boundaries changes.

2. Why are we doing  a special session?

The State Legislature decided to do their usual legislative session that ended the early part of March. They'll return to Richmond to handle redistricting separately. Both the General Assembly, which is controlled by Republicans, and the State Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, must agree on a plan for redrawing the lines. That plan then goes to the Republican governor for approval.

The Virginia General Assembly must realign the boundaries of its 40 Senate seats and 100 delegate districts once every 10 years to reflect new census numbers.  The state's population is now 8 million. That means each house district should contain 80,000 people and each senate district, 200,000 people.

3.  What exactly is the plan for new seats in the House?

The GOP-controlled House presented its redistricting plan Tuesday. The GOP has proposed three new House seats in Loudoun and Prince William counties.

“In the House, Republicans who rule that chamber packed up the districts of three downstate Democrats and moved them into the fast-growing suburbs of northern Virginia,” according to the Associated Press.

“Virginia grew from slightly more than 7 million people in 2000 to more than 8 million in the 2010 Census. Because most of the growth was just outside the Washington Beltway, it was inevitable that fast-growing areas such as Prince William and Loudoun would gain seats at the expense of rural areas that grew little or lost population," the AP reported.

4. Did Fairfax Sen. Janet Howell have something to do with the Democratic plan in the Senate?

Yes, she wrote it. That plan, which was also introduced Tuesday, creates one new Senate seat encompassing parts of Loudoun, Fauquier and Prince William counties.

"The Senate proposal, sponsored by Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax), deals with lower population counts in the Hampton Roads area by collapsing the districts of two incumbent Republicans in Virginia Beach. It also merges two underpopulated Republican districts in Southside Virginia," The Washington Post said.

 That plan also creates a new Senate district in the suburbs of Richmond.

5. What’s next?

"Lawmakers are under pressure to enact the new lines quickly to allow for August primaries and November general elections for all 100 House of Delegates seats and all 40 Senate seats," the AP reported.

 New maps for Virginia's 11 congressional districts have not been filed. U.S. House races aren't until the fall of 2012, giving lawmakers more time to finish congressional redistricting, according to the AP.

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Saturday's Public Hearing: 10:30 a.m. - Fairfax County Government Center Auditorium (12011 Government Center, Rm. 208.) This is one of eight public hearings being held around the state by the joint Senate-House committee.