With elections just days away, a few people have
asked the importance of this year’s results. After all, the
presidential election is next year. What is happening this
week is entirely local: School board members and state
representatives are up for election. But what real difference
will taking the time out to vote have this time?
In short, if you can vote in a competitive district, it has
the potential to be one of the most important votes you
make in the next decade.
The reason is simple: Every 10 years, the Virginia
Legislature gets together and looks at the census reports
before redrawing all of the electoral districts for the
state. Everything from congressional districts to their own
seat boundaries is redone to technically accommodate
changes in the population densities across the state.
In reality, something else also happens. Since you just
need to get the plans passed in both chambers and signed
by the governor, if one party has control of the legislature,
it will draw these new boundaries to maximize its own
advantage, even if it doesn’t accurately reflect the state as
a whole. If you think for a second that a majority of the
politicians involved will step back and refuse to pick their
own voters, then I admire your optimism in the face of
every piece of evidence pointing to the contrary.
Right now, the Republican Party controls both the
House of Delegates and Senate. With the House, there
are a few races for both sides that are up in the air, but
this will probably not result in a new party majority in
the chamber.
However, Democrats are only four seats away from
taking the Senate, and since this is the last chance for them
to do so before the 2010 redistricting, they are pulling
out all the stops. After all, it is very common for current
senators and delegates to be placed in districts outside
their current district, or for multiple senators to be placed
in the same district.
Now, not only is the minority party losing seats, but it
will be losing seasoned politicians who might have been
close to running for higher offices statewide. If I haven’t
made it clear yet, redistricting is not going to be pretty for
the losers, and with one party in charge of both houses,
it is also a rigged game.
If you take a few moments to peruse Virginia’s extensive
collection of political blogs, you’ll see four real target
races coming to the forefront this season. Those four are
below, and in each circumstance the Republican is the
incumbent, since these are seats the Democrats
are hoping to take.
6th Senate District: Nick Rerras, R, vs.
Ralph Northam, D
34th Senate District: Jeannemarie Devolites-
Davis, R, vs. Chap Petersen, D
37th Senate District: Ken Cuccinelli, R, vs.
Janet Oleszek, D
39th Senate District: Jay O’Brien, R, vs.
George Barker, D
I would go into detail about each of these races,
but I am fiercely (and probably biasedly) supportive
of the Democratic challengers for each of these
races. To make this editorial an exchange with
another writer would make it long enough to be
an entirely new article in and of itself.
If you go to the state legislative Web site (legis.
state.va.us), there is a link where you can put in
your address, and it will tell you what districts
you live in. Don’t forget that if you registered with
your parents’ address, use that address to figure
out what races are competitive where you live.
A lot of people tend to pay attention only to
federal elections, not thinking about how it is
decided, just what the district lines are for those
races. Those lines are decided on the state level, and
this is your chance to make an impact. Whether
you want to keep a Republican majority or help
the Democrats take a chamber, you need to
vote. Even if he or she serves the maximum number
of terms, a president will only be in power for
eight years. By voting this week, you won’t just be
voting for candidates, but you’ll also be deciding
the very structure of our election process, which
is infinitely more powerful.
One final note: Although I’ve obviously harped
extensively on the federal outcome of this local
election year, don’t forget that ultimately, the state
representatives are going to have more influence
on your day-to-day affairs. Although less covered
by the media, these people are, in a lot of ways,
more important than national representatives,
and you should be voting for or against them
accordingly. There have been a number of large
bills in the past year (the marriage amendment
comes to mind), and now would not be the time
to forget to vote.