VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Supreme Court of Virginia unanimously approved a redistricting plan Tuesday to give Virginia new voting maps for the next decade.
The maps change the lines of many Congressional, State Senate, and House of Delegates districts, reshaping Virginia politics.
"They're definitely the best maps we’ve seen in Virginia in a long time," said Liz White, director of One Virginia 2021, a redistricting reform advocacy organization. "It’s the first set of maps that haven’t been drawn at all by any member of the legislature, by any member of any political party."
The map drawers selected by the Supreme Court of Virginia did not take the addresses of current Virginia lawmakers into consideration, so there will be major shakeups in districts across the state.
Dozens of state lawmakers are estimated to be paired in districts where other lawmakers live, creating new political challenges and opportunities for new representation.
"To draw districts that either protected incumbents or split communities for personal or political gain, those were the problems and those problems have been solved," White said.
Analysts and independent organizations such as the Princeton Gerrymandering Project give the maps high grades for partisan fairness.
Despite the Redistricting Commission's failure to reach a consensus, White said the redistricting process was more transparent than it's ever been, with justices and map drawers making changes after receiving public comments on the proposals.
"It should make your representation better and more thorough and easier to navigate," she said.
Voting experts say there won’t be dramatic redistricting changes following a U.S. Census like this every 10 years, as these new maps are more of a "reset" to build from, but voters should check their districts and candidates before the next election.
The map drawers - deemed "special masters" by the court - released a 63-page memo explaining their decisions and detailing the maps earlier this month.
The special masters' proposals can be found here, and the Supreme Court's order of approval is available here.