Virginia referendum - if you hate MAGA, vote YES (even if your mailing says to vote 'No')

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to snuff out the voices of every Virginian who lives outside of NoVA, vote YES.

I truly, curiously, want to know what you think about the redistricting in Texas and other places that preceded this.

DP. I think it's awful. Texas, North Carolina, Maryland, Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, and New York (plus any state I may ave missed). All of them. And if you want to snuff out the voices of every Virginian who lives outside of NoVA, vote YES.

If those voices think that it’s ok for Trump to continue unchecked by Congress, then I’m ok “snuffing” out their voices.

The POTUS should NOT have absolute power. Our government doesn’t work with if all three branches are corrupt.

+100 Perhaps people who want to vote in support of a rapist felon who flagrantly violates our laws and has threatened genocide should have their votes snuffed. How long are we supposed to sane wash MAGA and pretend like there is still any semblance of a functioning 3 party system?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger captures the hypocrisy of politicians attempting to justify these power grabs. Even before this vote, she was widely criticized for running as a moderate but then veering to the far left as soon as she was elected. Her polling numbers reflect a “stunning” drop in support due to the bait-and-switch.

No issue is more glaring than her vocal opposition to gerrymandering in any form before she ran for governor. In 2019, when the Supreme Court halted redistricting, Spanbergger declared:

“This is good news for Virginia and the country. Gerrymandering is detrimental to our democracy and it weakens the individual voices that form our electorates. Opposing gerrymandering should be a bipartisan priority.”
However, now that Democrats control the legislature, Spanberger changed her position and is pushing the most extreme gerrymandered map in the nation — a move that would take an almost evenly divided delegation and wipe out all but one Republican district. In a state considered purple and divided down the middle, the Democrats would seize 10 of 11 absurdly crafted districts, including one called “the lobster” for its contorted shape.

The Democrats are insisting that they are merely responding to Texas, but this is far more extreme than in other states. Moreover, this is a purple state where Democrats are not even trying a modest accommodation for roughly half of the voters. It is a simple muscle play to suspend the state constitution despite a prior commitment to bar gerrymandering.

Spanberger believes in fighting gerrymandering unless it works to her party’s advantage. Others have shown greater integrity. For example, Republicans in Indiana control the legislature but have refused to gerrymander the state, even “temporarily.”

The radical proposal is only possible because Virginia was once widely cited as a model of fairness in voting. Spanberger and the Democrats have now shattered that model.

Not only are the Democrats wiping out the representation of roughly half of the state (in the name of protecting Democracy), but polls show that the voters are sharply divided. A slight majority is polling in favor of the move. Yet, that division is not reflected in the measure itself, which lacks any moderation or restraint. Democrats are simply wiping out almost every Republican district because they can.

The fact that Democrats are ignoring the unfairness to half of their neighbors shows how rage politics has taken hold of the country.

+ 1,000,000

It's a shame that more Democrats don't think like this one. Yes, he's a lifelong Democrat and self-described liberal (not to be confused with leftist)

He’s a Libertarian.

No. He's a liberal Democrat. I'll take his own words over yours:

"I am not a supporter of President Trump. I voted against him in 2016 and I have previously voted for Presidents Clinton and Obama. I am a liberal. But I am also a constitutionalist who believes that we must maintain a degree of consistency in our legal and constitutional arguments." - 12/4/19 testimong before the House.

Libertarians may like him, but that does not make him a libertarian

And for the other elections? Funny he doesn’t mention who he voted for in 2016, 2000, and 1988. And I wonder who he voted for in 2020 and 2024…

For a “liberal Democrat” and “constitutionalist” he hasn’t said much, if anything, about Trump’s flagrant abuses of power and frequent shitting on the Constitution.

He strangely ONLY criticizes Democrats. It seems that Trump and the GOP can do no wrong in his eyes.

Huh????

He said he's not a Trump supporter. That makes it a pretty safe bet he voted for Hillary in 2016. He said he voted for Obama and Clinton. Why on earth would you expect him to go all the way back to 1988 and 2000? He's probably old enough to have voted in '80 and '84 too. Are you entitled to know who he voted for then as well? That's absurd.

And yeah the piece he wrote is criticizing the gerrymandering the Democrats are trying to. That's the whole point

He offered up his voting record as evidence of his political affiliation. It's fair game.

He said that he voted for "Presidents Clinton and Obama", which would be 1992 and/or 1996 and 2008 and/or 2012. So 2 to 4 times.

He said he voted against Trump, NOT that he voted for H Clinton. Given his careful wording, it seems likely that he voted for either Johnson or Stein.

If he only voted for a Democrat 2-4 times in the last 40+ years I'd say he wasn't much of a Democrat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to snuff out the voices of every Virginian who lives outside of NoVA, vote YES.

I truly, curiously, want to know what you think about the redistricting in Texas and other places that preceded this.

+1 DeSantis is keeping the Florida legislature in session waiting on the results of this so they can gerrymander again to try to keep Trump’s power unchecked if it passes.

Did you actually think this gerrymandering nonsense will just stop if VA passes this? You can't be that naive.

It would stop if any Republicans voted for the national ban, but they did not.

Florida’s constitution bans partisan gerrymandering but DeSantis doesn’t care.

Personally, I'm all in favor of a nationwide ban, assuming it's Constitutional. But we all know that the bills offered up by the Dems weren't serious. With the exception of the (I believe) most recent one from last September, they all have been attached larger bills with all sorts of strings attached (i.e mandatory mail in voting, ranked choice voting, etc) that made them non-starters. And the one from last Fall had some legitimate Constitutional concerns about state sovereignty and "independent" commissions. So all of them were DOA and the Dems knew it, but it allowed them to posture politically.

If there were a truly "Naked Bill"—like a 5-page document that simply said, "Districts must be compact, contiguous, and drawn by a bipartisan 50/50 commission, with no other changes to voting laws"—it would be very hard for anyone to vote against. The fact that such a bill has NEVER been the primary focus of EITHER party tells you that both sides still want to keep the gerrymandering "card" in their back pocket, just in case they get the chance to use it, or as some on here have argued "need" to use it.

Here's the real rub though. As Virginians we can only control what happens in Virginia and we FIXED it in 2020 for ourselves. Our anti-gerrymandering process works. Now the Dems are trying to blow that up and it's shameful.

Bipartisan is the issue - it should be an independent commission.

While the 2020 changes could be noted as progress, they were also deeply flawed, as demonstrated by the commission's performance.

Actually it should be both - an independent, bi-partisan commission. There's no such thing as "non-partisan", if that's what you're eluding to.

As far as VA's commission goes, it's not only independent & bipartisan, it's also citizen-involved. That's even better. I've heard other people mention it's deeply flawed, but have yet to hear an example. As for performance, I'd argue it it did a remarkable job. The constitutional amendment stipulates that if the commission cannot come to an agreement (a supermajority, which is a very a good safeguard) in time, it would go to the VA Supreme Court. If you remember, that was during early COVID which posed a huge logistical nightmare for them. Unfortunately they could not get it done so enter the VA Supreme Court. They took the necessary steps to avoid any hint of partisanship by appointing 2 "Special Masters" - one from each party - to hammer it out. They did and the end result were very fair congressional maps, by any objective measure. Put simply, it worked!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger captures the hypocrisy of politicians attempting to justify these power grabs. Even before this vote, she was widely criticized for running as a moderate but then veering to the far left as soon as she was elected. Her polling numbers reflect a “stunning” drop in support due to the bait-and-switch.

No issue is more glaring than her vocal opposition to gerrymandering in any form before she ran for governor. In 2019, when the Supreme Court halted redistricting, Spanbergger declared:

“This is good news for Virginia and the country. Gerrymandering is detrimental to our democracy and it weakens the individual voices that form our electorates. Opposing gerrymandering should be a bipartisan priority.”
However, now that Democrats control the legislature, Spanberger changed her position and is pushing the most extreme gerrymandered map in the nation — a move that would take an almost evenly divided delegation and wipe out all but one Republican district. In a state considered purple and divided down the middle, the Democrats would seize 10 of 11 absurdly crafted districts, including one called “the lobster” for its contorted shape.

The Democrats are insisting that they are merely responding to Texas, but this is far more extreme than in other states. Moreover, this is a purple state where Democrats are not even trying a modest accommodation for roughly half of the voters. It is a simple muscle play to suspend the state constitution despite a prior commitment to bar gerrymandering.

Spanberger believes in fighting gerrymandering unless it works to her party’s advantage. Others have shown greater integrity. For example, Republicans in Indiana control the legislature but have refused to gerrymander the state, even “temporarily.”

The radical proposal is only possible because Virginia was once widely cited as a model of fairness in voting. Spanberger and the Democrats have now shattered that model.

Not only are the Democrats wiping out the representation of roughly half of the state (in the name of protecting Democracy), but polls show that the voters are sharply divided. A slight majority is polling in favor of the move. Yet, that division is not reflected in the measure itself, which lacks any moderation or restraint. Democrats are simply wiping out almost every Republican district because they can.

The fact that Democrats are ignoring the unfairness to half of their neighbors shows how rage politics has taken hold of the country.

+ 1,000,000

It's a shame that more Democrats don't think like this one. Yes, he's a lifelong Democrat and self-described liberal (not to be confused with leftist)

He’s a Libertarian.

No. He's a liberal Democrat. I'll take his own words over yours:

"I am not a supporter of President Trump. I voted against him in 2016 and I have previously voted for Presidents Clinton and Obama. I am a liberal. But I am also a constitutionalist who believes that we must maintain a degree of consistency in our legal and constitutional arguments." - 12/4/19 testimong before the House.

Libertarians may like him, but that does not make him a libertarian

And for the other elections? Funny he doesn’t mention who he voted for in 2016, 2000, and 1988. And I wonder who he voted for in 2020 and 2024…

For a “liberal Democrat” and “constitutionalist” he hasn’t said much, if anything, about Trump’s flagrant abuses of power and frequent shitting on the Constitution.

He strangely ONLY criticizes Democrats. It seems that Trump and the GOP can do no wrong in his eyes.

Huh????

He said he's not a Trump supporter. That makes it a pretty safe bet he voted for Hillary in 2016. He said he voted for Obama and Clinton. Why on earth would you expect him to go all the way back to 1988 and 2000? He's probably old enough to have voted in '80 and '84 too. Are you entitled to know who he voted for then as well? That's absurd.

And yeah the piece he wrote is criticizing the gerrymandering the Democrats are trying to. That's the whole point

He offered up his voting record as evidence of his political affiliation. It's fair game.

He said that he voted for "Presidents Clinton and Obama", which would be 1992 and/or 1996 and 2008 and/or 2012. So 2 to 4 times.

He said he voted against Trump, NOT that he voted for H Clinton. Given his careful wording, it seems likely that he voted for either Johnson or Stein.

If he only voted for a Democrat 2-4 times in the last 40+ years I'd say he wasn't much of a Democrat.

Man, thats some serious detective work. Busted! But he's a self-proclaimed liberal, isn't that good enough?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to snuff out the voices of every Virginian who lives outside of NoVA, vote YES.

I truly, curiously, want to know what you think about the redistricting in Texas and other places that preceded this.

DP. I think it's awful. Texas, North Carolina, Maryland, Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, and New York (plus any state I may ave missed). All of them. And if you want to snuff out the voices of every Virginian who lives outside of NoVA, vote YES.

Two things can be true at the same time. Vote no!

I’m very sad about the fact I have to vote yes. I wish weren’t in this position, but we are, and it’s the Republicans fault. Exclusively. They failed to rein in their guys, and now we have to snuff them out. Sad.

+1

Where is the outrage from the right for any of the insane stuff that Trump had done?

Where is Congress? SCOTUS? Oh right, they let him do whatever he wants.

If Republicans would step up to the plate to rein him in I’d vote no, but I’m forced to vote YES because we need more people in Congress who support ethics, the law, and the Constitution.

Vote YES if you think Trump is unfit.

+1

Huge eye roll to republicans clutching their pearls because VA wants to do the same thing Trump actively instructed several red states to do. They are like petulant toddlers who keep breaking rules and twisting things to their benefit and then they stomp their feet mad when someone tries to change something in response. Sorry, but we’re not going to sit by and let them win like a 3 year old who keeps rearranging the card deck in Candy Land.

I wish this wasn’t the circumstance we’re in, but we’ve given control of our country to a narcissistic man child who has spent his life getting ahead by scamming and cheating. It’d be insane to just sit by and let MAGA further erode the constitution and allocate our money toward wars and corporations.

100%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger captures the hypocrisy of politicians attempting to justify these power grabs. Even before this vote, she was widely criticized for running as a moderate but then veering to the far left as soon as she was elected. Her polling numbers reflect a “stunning” drop in support due to the bait-and-switch.

No issue is more glaring than her vocal opposition to gerrymandering in any form before she ran for governor. In 2019, when the Supreme Court halted redistricting, Spanbergger declared:

“This is good news for Virginia and the country. Gerrymandering is detrimental to our democracy and it weakens the individual voices that form our electorates. Opposing gerrymandering should be a bipartisan priority.”
However, now that Democrats control the legislature, Spanberger changed her position and is pushing the most extreme gerrymandered map in the nation — a move that would take an almost evenly divided delegation and wipe out all but one Republican district. In a state considered purple and divided down the middle, the Democrats would seize 10 of 11 absurdly crafted districts, including one called “the lobster” for its contorted shape.

The Democrats are insisting that they are merely responding to Texas, but this is far more extreme than in other states. Moreover, this is a purple state where Democrats are not even trying a modest accommodation for roughly half of the voters. It is a simple muscle play to suspend the state constitution despite a prior commitment to bar gerrymandering.

Spanberger believes in fighting gerrymandering unless it works to her party’s advantage. Others have shown greater integrity. For example, Republicans in Indiana control the legislature but have refused to gerrymander the state, even “temporarily.”

The radical proposal is only possible because Virginia was once widely cited as a model of fairness in voting. Spanberger and the Democrats have now shattered that model.

Not only are the Democrats wiping out the representation of roughly half of the state (in the name of protecting Democracy), but polls show that the voters are sharply divided. A slight majority is polling in favor of the move. Yet, that division is not reflected in the measure itself, which lacks any moderation or restraint. Democrats are simply wiping out almost every Republican district because they can.

The fact that Democrats are ignoring the unfairness to half of their neighbors shows how rage politics has taken hold of the country.

+ 1,000,000

It's a shame that more Democrats don't think like this one. Yes, he's a lifelong Democrat and self-described liberal (not to be confused with leftist)

He’s a Libertarian.

No. He's a liberal Democrat. I'll take his own words over yours:

"I am not a supporter of President Trump. I voted against him in 2016 and I have previously voted for Presidents Clinton and Obama. I am a liberal. But I am also a constitutionalist who believes that we must maintain a degree of consistency in our legal and constitutional arguments." - 12/4/19 testimong before the House.

Libertarians may like him, but that does not make him a libertarian

And for the other elections? Funny he doesn’t mention who he voted for in 2016, 2000, and 1988. And I wonder who he voted for in 2020 and 2024…

For a “liberal Democrat” and “constitutionalist” he hasn’t said much, if anything, about Trump’s flagrant abuses of power and frequent shitting on the Constitution.

He strangely ONLY criticizes Democrats. It seems that Trump and the GOP can do no wrong in his eyes.

Huh????

He said he's not a Trump supporter. That makes it a pretty safe bet he voted for Hillary in 2016. He said he voted for Obama and Clinton. Why on earth would you expect him to go all the way back to 1988 and 2000? He's probably old enough to have voted in '80 and '84 too. Are you entitled to know who he voted for then as well? That's absurd.

And yeah the piece he wrote is criticizing the gerrymandering the Democrats are trying to. That's the whole point

He offered up his voting record as evidence of his political affiliation. It's fair game.

He said that he voted for "Presidents Clinton and Obama", which would be 1992 and/or 1996 and 2008 and/or 2012. So 2 to 4 times.

He said he voted against Trump, NOT that he voted for H Clinton. Given his careful wording, it seems likely that he voted for either Johnson or Stein.

If he only voted for a Democrat 2-4 times in the last 40+ years I'd say he wasn't much of a Democrat.

Man, thats some serious detective work. Busted! But he's a self-proclaimed liberal, isn't that good enough?

No. He’s just like the “as a Dem” bullshit artists on DCUM.

Instead, I will take ALL of the words that he has said since that carefully-worded comment.

Where are all of his criticisms of Trump/GOP’s flagrant abuses of power and frequent shitting on the Constitution?

He strangely ONLY criticizes Democrats. On FoxNews, no less.

If it walks like a duck…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to snuff out the voices of every Virginian who lives outside of NoVA, vote YES.

I truly, curiously, want to know what you think about the redistricting in Texas and other places that preceded this.

+1 DeSantis is keeping the Florida legislature in session waiting on the results of this so they can gerrymander again to try to keep Trump’s power unchecked if it passes.

Did you actually think this gerrymandering nonsense will just stop if VA passes this? You can't be that naive.

It would stop if any Republicans voted for the national ban, but they did not.

Florida’s constitution bans partisan gerrymandering but DeSantis doesn’t care.

Personally, I'm all in favor of a nationwide ban, assuming it's Constitutional. But we all know that the bills offered up by the Dems weren't serious. With the exception of the (I believe) most recent one from last September, they all have been attached larger bills with all sorts of strings attached (i.e mandatory mail in voting, ranked choice voting, etc) that made them non-starters. And the one from last Fall had some legitimate Constitutional concerns about state sovereignty and "independent" commissions. So all of them were DOA and the Dems knew it, but it allowed them to posture politically.

If there were a truly "Naked Bill"—like a 5-page document that simply said, "Districts must be compact, contiguous, and drawn by a bipartisan 50/50 commission, with no other changes to voting laws"—it would be very hard for anyone to vote against. The fact that such a bill has NEVER been the primary focus of EITHER party tells you that both sides still want to keep the gerrymandering "card" in their back pocket, just in case they get the chance to use it, or as some on here have argued "need" to use it.

Here's the real rub though. As Virginians we can only control what happens in Virginia and we FIXED it in 2020 for ourselves. Our anti-gerrymandering process works. Now the Dems are trying to blow that up and it's shameful.

Bipartisan is the issue - it should be an independent commission.

While the 2020 changes could be noted as progress, they were also deeply flawed, as demonstrated by the commission's performance.

Actually it should be both - an independent, bi-partisan commission. There's no such thing as "non-partisan", if that's what you're eluding to.

As far as VA's commission goes, it's not only independent & bipartisan, it's also citizen-involved. That's even better. I've heard other people mention it's deeply flawed, but have yet to hear an example. As for performance, I'd argue it it did a remarkable job. The constitutional amendment stipulates that if the commission cannot come to an agreement (a supermajority, which is a very a good safeguard) in time, it would go to the VA Supreme Court. If you remember, that was during early COVID which posed a huge logistical nightmare for them. Unfortunately they could not get it done so enter the VA Supreme Court. They took the necessary steps to avoid any hint of partisanship by appointing 2 "Special Masters" - one from each party - to hammer it out. They did and the end result were very fair congressional maps, by any objective measure. Put simply, it worked!

It’s not independent if legislators are on the commission.

They couldn’t get it done because Rs weren’t participating in good faith. They knew it’d go to the conservative SC.

The commission should be nonpartisan and independent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to snuff out the voices of every Virginian who lives outside of NoVA, vote YES.

I truly, curiously, want to know what you think about the redistricting in Texas and other places that preceded this.

+1 DeSantis is keeping the Florida legislature in session waiting on the results of this so they can gerrymander again to try to keep Trump’s power unchecked if it passes.

Did you actually think this gerrymandering nonsense will just stop if VA passes this? You can't be that naive.

It would stop if any Republicans voted for the national ban, but they did not.

Florida’s constitution bans partisan gerrymandering but DeSantis doesn’t care.

Personally, I'm all in favor of a nationwide ban, assuming it's Constitutional. But we all know that the bills offered up by the Dems weren't serious. With the exception of the (I believe) most recent one from last September, they all have been attached larger bills with all sorts of strings attached (i.e mandatory mail in voting, ranked choice voting, etc) that made them non-starters. And the one from last Fall had some legitimate Constitutional concerns about state sovereignty and "independent" commissions. So all of them were DOA and the Dems knew it, but it allowed them to posture politically.

If there were a truly "Naked Bill"—like a 5-page document that simply said, "Districts must be compact, contiguous, and drawn by a bipartisan 50/50 commission, with no other changes to voting laws"—it would be very hard for anyone to vote against. The fact that such a bill has NEVER been the primary focus of EITHER party tells you that both sides still want to keep the gerrymandering "card" in their back pocket, just in case they get the chance to use it, or as some on here have argued "need" to use it.

Here's the real rub though. As Virginians we can only control what happens in Virginia and we FIXED it in 2020 for ourselves. Our anti-gerrymandering process works. Now the Dems are trying to blow that up and it's shameful.

Bipartisan is the issue - it should be an independent commission.

While the 2020 changes could be noted as progress, they were also deeply flawed, as demonstrated by the commission's performance.

Actually it should be both - an independent, bi-partisan commission. There's no such thing as "non-partisan", if that's what you're eluding to.

As far as VA's commission goes, it's not only independent & bipartisan, it's also citizen-involved. That's even better. I've heard other people mention it's deeply flawed, but have yet to hear an example. As for performance, I'd argue it it did a remarkable job. The constitutional amendment stipulates that if the commission cannot come to an agreement (a supermajority, which is a very a good safeguard) in time, it would go to the VA Supreme Court. If you remember, that was during early COVID which posed a huge logistical nightmare for them. Unfortunately they could not get it done so enter the VA Supreme Court. They took the necessary steps to avoid any hint of partisanship by appointing 2 "Special Masters" - one from each party - to hammer it out. They did and the end result were very fair congressional maps, by any objective measure. Put simply, it worked!

It’s not independent if legislators are on the commission.

They couldn’t get it done because Rs weren’t participating in good faith. They knew it’d go to the conservative SC.

The commission should be nonpartisan and independent.

It worked, and there’s no such thing as “non-partisan”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to snuff out the voices of every Virginian who lives outside of NoVA, vote YES.

I truly, curiously, want to know what you think about the redistricting in Texas and other places that preceded this.

+1 DeSantis is keeping the Florida legislature in session waiting on the results of this so they can gerrymander again to try to keep Trump’s power unchecked if it passes.

Did you actually think this gerrymandering nonsense will just stop if VA passes this? You can't be that naive.

It would stop if any Republicans voted for the national ban, but they did not.

Florida’s constitution bans partisan gerrymandering but DeSantis doesn’t care.

Personally, I'm all in favor of a nationwide ban, assuming it's Constitutional. But we all know that the bills offered up by the Dems weren't serious. With the exception of the (I believe) most recent one from last September, they all have been attached larger bills with all sorts of strings attached (i.e mandatory mail in voting, ranked choice voting, etc) that made them non-starters. And the one from last Fall had some legitimate Constitutional concerns about state sovereignty and "independent" commissions. So all of them were DOA and the Dems knew it, but it allowed them to posture politically.

If there were a truly "Naked Bill"—like a 5-page document that simply said, "Districts must be compact, contiguous, and drawn by a bipartisan 50/50 commission, with no other changes to voting laws"—it would be very hard for anyone to vote against. The fact that such a bill has NEVER been the primary focus of EITHER party tells you that both sides still want to keep the gerrymandering "card" in their back pocket, just in case they get the chance to use it, or as some on here have argued "need" to use it.

Here's the real rub though. As Virginians we can only control what happens in Virginia and we FIXED it in 2020 for ourselves. Our anti-gerrymandering process works. Now the Dems are trying to blow that up and it's shameful.

Bipartisan is the issue - it should be an independent commission.

While the 2020 changes could be noted as progress, they were also deeply flawed, as demonstrated by the commission's performance.

Actually it should be both - an independent, bi-partisan commission. There's no such thing as "non-partisan", if that's what you're eluding to.

As far as VA's commission goes, it's not only independent & bipartisan, it's also citizen-involved. That's even better. I've heard other people mention it's deeply flawed, but have yet to hear an example. As for performance, I'd argue it it did a remarkable job. The constitutional amendment stipulates that if the commission cannot come to an agreement (a supermajority, which is a very a good safeguard) in time, it would go to the VA Supreme Court. If you remember, that was during early COVID which posed a huge logistical nightmare for them. Unfortunately they could not get it done so enter the VA Supreme Court. They took the necessary steps to avoid any hint of partisanship by appointing 2 "Special Masters" - one from each party - to hammer it out. They did and the end result were very fair congressional maps, by any objective measure. Put simply, it worked!

It’s not independent if legislators are on the commission.

They couldn’t get it done because Rs weren’t participating in good faith. They knew it’d go to the conservative SC.

The commission should be nonpartisan and independent.

It worked, and there’s no such thing as “non-partisan”

Didn’t it not work since the court had to do it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to snuff out the voices of every Virginian who lives outside of NoVA, vote YES.

I truly, curiously, want to know what you think about the redistricting in Texas and other places that preceded this.

+1 DeSantis is keeping the Florida legislature in session waiting on the results of this so they can gerrymander again to try to keep Trump’s power unchecked if it passes.

Did you actually think this gerrymandering nonsense will just stop if VA passes this? You can't be that naive.

It would stop if any Republicans voted for the national ban, but they did not.

Florida’s constitution bans partisan gerrymandering but DeSantis doesn’t care.

Personally, I'm all in favor of a nationwide ban, assuming it's Constitutional. But we all know that the bills offered up by the Dems weren't serious. With the exception of the (I believe) most recent one from last September, they all have been attached larger bills with all sorts of strings attached (i.e mandatory mail in voting, ranked choice voting, etc) that made them non-starters. And the one from last Fall had some legitimate Constitutional concerns about state sovereignty and "independent" commissions. So all of them were DOA and the Dems knew it, but it allowed them to posture politically.

If there were a truly "Naked Bill"—like a 5-page document that simply said, "Districts must be compact, contiguous, and drawn by a bipartisan 50/50 commission, with no other changes to voting laws"—it would be very hard for anyone to vote against. The fact that such a bill has NEVER been the primary focus of EITHER party tells you that both sides still want to keep the gerrymandering "card" in their back pocket, just in case they get the chance to use it, or as some on here have argued "need" to use it.

Here's the real rub though. As Virginians we can only control what happens in Virginia and we FIXED it in 2020 for ourselves. Our anti-gerrymandering process works. Now the Dems are trying to blow that up and it's shameful.

Bipartisan is the issue - it should be an independent commission.

While the 2020 changes could be noted as progress, they were also deeply flawed, as demonstrated by the commission's performance.

Actually it should be both - an independent, bi-partisan commission. There's no such thing as "non-partisan", if that's what you're eluding to.

As far as VA's commission goes, it's not only independent & bipartisan, it's also citizen-involved. That's even better. I've heard other people mention it's deeply flawed, but have yet to hear an example. As for performance, I'd argue it it did a remarkable job. The constitutional amendment stipulates that if the commission cannot come to an agreement (a supermajority, which is a very a good safeguard) in time, it would go to the VA Supreme Court. If you remember, that was during early COVID which posed a huge logistical nightmare for them. Unfortunately they could not get it done so enter the VA Supreme Court. They took the necessary steps to avoid any hint of partisanship by appointing 2 "Special Masters" - one from each party - to hammer it out. They did and the end result were very fair congressional maps, by any objective measure. Put simply, it worked!

It’s not independent if legislators are on the commission.

They couldn’t get it done because Rs weren’t participating in good faith. They knew it’d go to the conservative SC.

The commission should be nonpartisan and independent.

It worked, and there’s no such thing as “non-partisan”

Didn’t it not work since the court had to do it?

That is how the process was laid out, voted on and passed in a landslide. As a result, the current maps are objectively fair. It worked

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to snuff out the voices of every Virginian who lives outside of NoVA, vote YES.

I truly, curiously, want to know what you think about the redistricting in Texas and other places that preceded this.

+1 DeSantis is keeping the Florida legislature in session waiting on the results of this so they can gerrymander again to try to keep Trump’s power unchecked if it passes.

Did you actually think this gerrymandering nonsense will just stop if VA passes this? You can't be that naive.

It would stop if any Republicans voted for the national ban, but they did not.

Florida’s constitution bans partisan gerrymandering but DeSantis doesn’t care.

Personally, I'm all in favor of a nationwide ban, assuming it's Constitutional. But we all know that the bills offered up by the Dems weren't serious. With the exception of the (I believe) most recent one from last September, they all have been attached larger bills with all sorts of strings attached (i.e mandatory mail in voting, ranked choice voting, etc) that made them non-starters. And the one from last Fall had some legitimate Constitutional concerns about state sovereignty and "independent" commissions. So all of them were DOA and the Dems knew it, but it allowed them to posture politically.

If there were a truly "Naked Bill"—like a 5-page document that simply said, "Districts must be compact, contiguous, and drawn by a bipartisan 50/50 commission, with no other changes to voting laws"—it would be very hard for anyone to vote against. The fact that such a bill has NEVER been the primary focus of EITHER party tells you that both sides still want to keep the gerrymandering "card" in their back pocket, just in case they get the chance to use it, or as some on here have argued "need" to use it.

Here's the real rub though. As Virginians we can only control what happens in Virginia and we FIXED it in 2020 for ourselves. Our anti-gerrymandering process works. Now the Dems are trying to blow that up and it's shameful.

Bipartisan is the issue - it should be an independent commission.

While the 2020 changes could be noted as progress, they were also deeply flawed, as demonstrated by the commission's performance.

Actually it should be both - an independent, bi-partisan commission. There's no such thing as "non-partisan", if that's what you're eluding to.

As far as VA's commission goes, it's not only independent & bipartisan, it's also citizen-involved. That's even better. I've heard other people mention it's deeply flawed, but have yet to hear an example. As for performance, I'd argue it it did a remarkable job. The constitutional amendment stipulates that if the commission cannot come to an agreement (a supermajority, which is a very a good safeguard) in time, it would go to the VA Supreme Court. If you remember, that was during early COVID which posed a huge logistical nightmare for them. Unfortunately they could not get it done so enter the VA Supreme Court. They took the necessary steps to avoid any hint of partisanship by appointing 2 "Special Masters" - one from each party - to hammer it out. They did and the end result were very fair congressional maps, by any objective measure. Put simply, it worked!

It’s not independent if legislators are on the commission.

They couldn’t get it done because Rs weren’t participating in good faith. They knew it’d go to the conservative SC.

The commission should be nonpartisan and independent.

It worked, and there’s no such thing as “non-partisan”

Didn’t it not work since the court had to do it?

That is how the process was laid out, voted on and passed in a landslide. As a result, the current maps are objectively fair. It worked

No, the commission failed. Bipartisan doesn’t work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to snuff out the voices of every Virginian who lives outside of NoVA, vote YES.

I truly, curiously, want to know what you think about the redistricting in Texas and other places that preceded this.

+1 DeSantis is keeping the Florida legislature in session waiting on the results of this so they can gerrymander again to try to keep Trump’s power unchecked if it passes.

Did you actually think this gerrymandering nonsense will just stop if VA passes this? You can't be that naive.

It would stop if any Republicans voted for the national ban, but they did not.

Florida’s constitution bans partisan gerrymandering but DeSantis doesn’t care.

Personally, I'm all in favor of a nationwide ban, assuming it's Constitutional. But we all know that the bills offered up by the Dems weren't serious. With the exception of the (I believe) most recent one from last September, they all have been attached larger bills with all sorts of strings attached (i.e mandatory mail in voting, ranked choice voting, etc) that made them non-starters. And the one from last Fall had some legitimate Constitutional concerns about state sovereignty and "independent" commissions. So all of them were DOA and the Dems knew it, but it allowed them to posture politically.

If there were a truly "Naked Bill"—like a 5-page document that simply said, "Districts must be compact, contiguous, and drawn by a bipartisan 50/50 commission, with no other changes to voting laws"—it would be very hard for anyone to vote against. The fact that such a bill has NEVER been the primary focus of EITHER party tells you that both sides still want to keep the gerrymandering "card" in their back pocket, just in case they get the chance to use it, or as some on here have argued "need" to use it.

Here's the real rub though. As Virginians we can only control what happens in Virginia and we FIXED it in 2020 for ourselves. Our anti-gerrymandering process works. Now the Dems are trying to blow that up and it's shameful.

Bipartisan is the issue - it should be an independent commission.

While the 2020 changes could be noted as progress, they were also deeply flawed, as demonstrated by the commission's performance.

Actually it should be both - an independent, bi-partisan commission. There's no such thing as "non-partisan", if that's what you're eluding to.

As far as VA's commission goes, it's not only independent & bipartisan, it's also citizen-involved. That's even better. I've heard other people mention it's deeply flawed, but have yet to hear an example. As for performance, I'd argue it it did a remarkable job. The constitutional amendment stipulates that if the commission cannot come to an agreement (a supermajority, which is a very a good safeguard) in time, it would go to the VA Supreme Court. If you remember, that was during early COVID which posed a huge logistical nightmare for them. Unfortunately they could not get it done so enter the VA Supreme Court. They took the necessary steps to avoid any hint of partisanship by appointing 2 "Special Masters" - one from each party - to hammer it out. They did and the end result were very fair congressional maps, by any objective measure. Put simply, it worked!

It’s not independent if legislators are on the commission.

They couldn’t get it done because Rs weren’t participating in good faith. They knew it’d go to the conservative SC.

The commission should be nonpartisan and independent.

It worked, and there’s no such thing as “non-partisan”

Didn’t it not work since the court had to do it?

That is how the process was laid out, voted on and passed in a landslide. As a result, the current maps are objectively fair. It worked

No, the commission failed. Bipartisan doesn’t work.

It worked, and you sound like a totalitarian

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to snuff out the voices of every Virginian who lives outside of NoVA, vote YES.

I truly, curiously, want to know what you think about the redistricting in Texas and other places that preceded this.

+1 DeSantis is keeping the Florida legislature in session waiting on the results of this so they can gerrymander again to try to keep Trump’s power unchecked if it passes.

Did you actually think this gerrymandering nonsense will just stop if VA passes this? You can't be that naive.

It would stop if any Republicans voted for the national ban, but they did not.

Florida’s constitution bans partisan gerrymandering but DeSantis doesn’t care.

Personally, I'm all in favor of a nationwide ban, assuming it's Constitutional. But we all know that the bills offered up by the Dems weren't serious. With the exception of the (I believe) most recent one from last September, they all have been attached larger bills with all sorts of strings attached (i.e mandatory mail in voting, ranked choice voting, etc) that made them non-starters. And the one from last Fall had some legitimate Constitutional concerns about state sovereignty and "independent" commissions. So all of them were DOA and the Dems knew it, but it allowed them to posture politically.

If there were a truly "Naked Bill"—like a 5-page document that simply said, "Districts must be compact, contiguous, and drawn by a bipartisan 50/50 commission, with no other changes to voting laws"—it would be very hard for anyone to vote against. The fact that such a bill has NEVER been the primary focus of EITHER party tells you that both sides still want to keep the gerrymandering "card" in their back pocket, just in case they get the chance to use it, or as some on here have argued "need" to use it.

Here's the real rub though. As Virginians we can only control what happens in Virginia and we FIXED it in 2020 for ourselves. Our anti-gerrymandering process works. Now the Dems are trying to blow that up and it's shameful.

Bipartisan is the issue - it should be an independent commission.

While the 2020 changes could be noted as progress, they were also deeply flawed, as demonstrated by the commission's performance.

Actually it should be both - an independent, bi-partisan commission. There's no such thing as "non-partisan", if that's what you're eluding to.

As far as VA's commission goes, it's not only independent & bipartisan, it's also citizen-involved. That's even better. I've heard other people mention it's deeply flawed, but have yet to hear an example. As for performance, I'd argue it it did a remarkable job. The constitutional amendment stipulates that if the commission cannot come to an agreement (a supermajority, which is a very a good safeguard) in time, it would go to the VA Supreme Court. If you remember, that was during early COVID which posed a huge logistical nightmare for them. Unfortunately they could not get it done so enter the VA Supreme Court. They took the necessary steps to avoid any hint of partisanship by appointing 2 "Special Masters" - one from each party - to hammer it out. They did and the end result were very fair congressional maps, by any objective measure. Put simply, it worked!

It’s not independent if legislators are on the commission.

They couldn’t get it done because Rs weren’t participating in good faith. They knew it’d go to the conservative SC.

The commission should be nonpartisan and independent.

It worked, and there’s no such thing as “non-partisan”

Didn’t it not work since the court had to do it?

That is how the process was laid out, voted on and passed in a landslide. As a result, the current maps are objectively fair. It worked

No, the commission failed. Bipartisan doesn’t work.

It worked, and you sound like a totalitarian

Objectively, the commission failed because of partisan issues — which is why the best practice is nonpartisan.

At a minimum, no politicians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to snuff out the voices of every Virginian who lives outside of NoVA, vote YES.

I truly, curiously, want to know what you think about the redistricting in Texas and other places that preceded this.

+1 DeSantis is keeping the Florida legislature in session waiting on the results of this so they can gerrymander again to try to keep Trump’s power unchecked if it passes.

Did you actually think this gerrymandering nonsense will just stop if VA passes this? You can't be that naive.

It would stop if any Republicans voted for the national ban, but they did not.

Florida’s constitution bans partisan gerrymandering but DeSantis doesn’t care.

Personally, I'm all in favor of a nationwide ban, assuming it's Constitutional. But we all know that the bills offered up by the Dems weren't serious. With the exception of the (I believe) most recent one from last September, they all have been attached larger bills with all sorts of strings attached (i.e mandatory mail in voting, ranked choice voting, etc) that made them non-starters. And the one from last Fall had some legitimate Constitutional concerns about state sovereignty and "independent" commissions. So all of them were DOA and the Dems knew it, but it allowed them to posture politically.

If there were a truly "Naked Bill"—like a 5-page document that simply said, "Districts must be compact, contiguous, and drawn by a bipartisan 50/50 commission, with no other changes to voting laws"—it would be very hard for anyone to vote against. The fact that such a bill has NEVER been the primary focus of EITHER party tells you that both sides still want to keep the gerrymandering "card" in their back pocket, just in case they get the chance to use it, or as some on here have argued "need" to use it.

Here's the real rub though. As Virginians we can only control what happens in Virginia and we FIXED it in 2020 for ourselves. Our anti-gerrymandering process works. Now the Dems are trying to blow that up and it's shameful.

Bipartisan is the issue - it should be an independent commission.

While the 2020 changes could be noted as progress, they were also deeply flawed, as demonstrated by the commission's performance.

Actually it should be both - an independent, bi-partisan commission. There's no such thing as "non-partisan", if that's what you're eluding to.

As far as VA's commission goes, it's not only independent & bipartisan, it's also citizen-involved. That's even better. I've heard other people mention it's deeply flawed, but have yet to hear an example. As for performance, I'd argue it it did a remarkable job. The constitutional amendment stipulates that if the commission cannot come to an agreement (a supermajority, which is a very a good safeguard) in time, it would go to the VA Supreme Court. If you remember, that was during early COVID which posed a huge logistical nightmare for them. Unfortunately they could not get it done so enter the VA Supreme Court. They took the necessary steps to avoid any hint of partisanship by appointing 2 "Special Masters" - one from each party - to hammer it out. They did and the end result were very fair congressional maps, by any objective measure. Put simply, it worked!

It’s not independent if legislators are on the commission.

They couldn’t get it done because Rs weren’t participating in good faith. They knew it’d go to the conservative SC.

The commission should be nonpartisan and independent.

It worked, and there’s no such thing as “non-partisan”

Didn’t it not work since the court had to do it?

That is how the process was laid out, voted on and passed in a landslide. As a result, the current maps are objectively fair. It worked

No, the commission failed. Bipartisan doesn’t work.

It worked, and you sound like a totalitarian

Objectively, the commission failed because of partisan issues — which is why the best practice is nonpartisan.

At a minimum, no politicians.

It worked. Objectively, the process worked as intended. The resulting maps and election results are the proof.

Again, there is no such thing as nonpartisan. Human nature prevents it. Bipartisanship is the only way to achieve fairness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to snuff out the voices of every Virginian who lives outside of NoVA, vote YES.

I truly, curiously, want to know what you think about the redistricting in Texas and other places that preceded this.

+1 DeSantis is keeping the Florida legislature in session waiting on the results of this so they can gerrymander again to try to keep Trump’s power unchecked if it passes.

Did you actually think this gerrymandering nonsense will just stop if VA passes this? You can't be that naive.

It would stop if any Republicans voted for the national ban, but they did not.

Florida’s constitution bans partisan gerrymandering but DeSantis doesn’t care.

Personally, I'm all in favor of a nationwide ban, assuming it's Constitutional. But we all know that the bills offered up by the Dems weren't serious. With the exception of the (I believe) most recent one from last September, they all have been attached larger bills with all sorts of strings attached (i.e mandatory mail in voting, ranked choice voting, etc) that made them non-starters. And the one from last Fall had some legitimate Constitutional concerns about state sovereignty and "independent" commissions. So all of them were DOA and the Dems knew it, but it allowed them to posture politically.

If there were a truly "Naked Bill"—like a 5-page document that simply said, "Districts must be compact, contiguous, and drawn by a bipartisan 50/50 commission, with no other changes to voting laws"—it would be very hard for anyone to vote against. The fact that such a bill has NEVER been the primary focus of EITHER party tells you that both sides still want to keep the gerrymandering "card" in their back pocket, just in case they get the chance to use it, or as some on here have argued "need" to use it.

Here's the real rub though. As Virginians we can only control what happens in Virginia and we FIXED it in 2020 for ourselves. Our anti-gerrymandering process works. Now the Dems are trying to blow that up and it's shameful.

Bipartisan is the issue - it should be an independent commission.

While the 2020 changes could be noted as progress, they were also deeply flawed, as demonstrated by the commission's performance.

Actually it should be both - an independent, bi-partisan commission. There's no such thing as "non-partisan", if that's what you're eluding to.

As far as VA's commission goes, it's not only independent & bipartisan, it's also citizen-involved. That's even better. I've heard other people mention it's deeply flawed, but have yet to hear an example. As for performance, I'd argue it it did a remarkable job. The constitutional amendment stipulates that if the commission cannot come to an agreement (a supermajority, which is a very a good safeguard) in time, it would go to the VA Supreme Court. If you remember, that was during early COVID which posed a huge logistical nightmare for them. Unfortunately they could not get it done so enter the VA Supreme Court. They took the necessary steps to avoid any hint of partisanship by appointing 2 "Special Masters" - one from each party - to hammer it out. They did and the end result were very fair congressional maps, by any objective measure. Put simply, it worked!

It’s not independent if legislators are on the commission.

They couldn’t get it done because Rs weren’t participating in good faith. They knew it’d go to the conservative SC.

The commission should be nonpartisan and independent.

It worked, and there’s no such thing as “non-partisan”

Didn’t it not work since the court had to do it?

That is how the process was laid out, voted on and passed in a landslide. As a result, the current maps are objectively fair. It worked

No, the commission failed. Bipartisan doesn’t work.

It worked, and you sound like a totalitarian

Objectively, the commission failed because of partisan issues — which is why the best practice is nonpartisan.

At a minimum, no politicians.

It worked. Objectively, the process worked as intended. The resulting maps and election results are the proof.

Again, there is no such thing as nonpartisan. Human nature prevents it. Bipartisanship is the only way to achieve fairness.

The commission failed. Period. But they did have a backup process in place.

Bipartisanship doesn’t work when Rs don’t do anything in good faith. Absolutely no politicians on the commission.