But this year – because of the ongoing pandemic – the new data wasn’t available until late August. Usually, new census data is released early in the year, allowing for enough time to consider the data to draw new districts reflecting changes in population. That changed after Virginians voted last year to amend the constitution to authorize the establishment of the Virginia Redistricting Commission – a bipartisan panel tasked with redrawing electoral districts. Until recently, the Virginia Constitution required the General Assembly to redraw Virginia’s state legislative and congressional districts every 10 years, using data from the latest national census. There is a fight out there that’s going to brew.” But we’ll have General Assembly elections in November run on the old maps. “If the commission works well, we will have a set of maps in October.
“This is an issue that folks have not really talked about very much which I think is going to be a real problem,” said Henry Chambers, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Richmond School of Law. If the panel is successful in drawing new districts that will survive an up-or-down vote in the General Assembly, the commonwealth would enter further into uncharted territory – because the 100 House of Delegates races currently underway are based on what will soon be outdated legislative maps. RICHMOND - With Saturday’s deadline looming large, the newly created Virginia Redistricting Commission is set to meet again this morning to review and debate the state’s new legislative maps.