Democratic officials in Virginia have been accused of misleading voters with the language used in the ballot question for the party’s redistricting plan.
The proposed constitutional amendment on the sample ballot for the April 21 public referendum asks voters to answer yes or no to the following question:
“Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?”
The Republican Party of Virginia said the ballot question, as written, was deceiving to voters.
“The use of the word ’fairness’ is deeply deceptive. It’s a lie. And we think that the ballot referendum is the definition of unfair, because it takes what voters had initially wanted, which was fair maps,” a state GOP spokesman told The Washington Times.
“Sixty-five percent of people voted for that [map] in 2020, and they’re actually making the maps less fair. Fifty percent of the votes would control 91% of the seats, which is the opposite of fairness. So, we think that the ballot language is wrong and deceptive.”
A former Virginia lawmaker described the ballot language as perpetrating a fraud on voters.
“This ballot language describing blatant gerrymandering as ‘fairness’ is so misleading that it’s essentially fraud on the people of Virginia,” former state Delegate Mark Earley, a Republican, said on social media.
Virginia’s Supreme Court last week gave the go-ahead to the mid-decade redistricting referendum despite an ongoing legal challenge. The court will decide later if the map is legal.
Virginia Democrats currently control six of the state’s 11 U.S. House seats. They want to redraw the map to capture as many as 10 seats in the midterm elections, boosting the party’s chances of winning majority control of the House.
The Democrats’ effort in Virginia is part of a nationwide redistricting battle. President Trump urged redistricting in GOP-run states to get more Republican-leaning districts and help the party hold onto its razor-thin House majority. Texas was the first to redraw its maps. Then, Democratic states, led by California, responded in kind.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on “CNN Sunday” that Democrats plan to pour millions of dollars into Virginia’s congressional line battle, however, to push back on what they say is President Trump’s efforts to “rig” the midterm elections.
“We will spend tens of millions of dollars to make sure that the Republicans do not successfully manipulate voters in Virginia, and that voters have all of the information necessary to make a decision around whether they want Donald Trump to rig the midterm elections and halt the ability for the American people to decide who’s in the majority, or whether the people of Virginia and the people of America should be the ones to decide,” Mr. Jeffries said.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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