Andrew Kerley, Executive Editor
The people of Virginia will decide if the commonwealth should enact mid-decade redistricting on April 21. The ballot reads:
“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?”
But what does that mean?
In the United States, Congress decides how many representatives each state gets by their populations. Virginia has 11 of them, and therefore 11 corresponding districts. But it is up to states to decide how the lines for those districts are drawn.
In Virginia, district lines are re-drawn once per decade. The maps are created to reflect different regions of the state and their communities. For example, Richmond and Petersburg share Virginia’s 4th Congressional District, currently held by Democratic Rep. Jennifer McClellan.
Virginia has put an independent, bipartisan commission in charge of that since 2020. To keep things fair, it has an equal number of Democrats and Republicans as members.
The ballot question asks if Virginia should temporarily disregard the commission so the General Assembly, currently controlled by Democrats, can redraw district lines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Why in the middle of April?
Because last summer President Donald Trump asked lawmakers in Texas to redraw their state’s districts in a way that would give an advantage to Republicans. They were successful, and other Republican-leaning states have followed, changing their maps for the 2026 midterms.
The process is called “gerrymandering”: when lawmakers deliberately redraw districts to favor their own parties. For example, about 56% of Texans voted for Trump in 2024, but under the state’s redrawn lines, Republicans could win nearly three quarters of its Congressional districts this November.
In response, lawmakers in California gerrymandered their districts to better favor Democrats — seeking to even the odds ahead of the November election.
Virginia is just the latest Democratic-leaning state to participate in the national redistricting-off. Both parties are racing to give themselves the best possible odds of winning a majority in Congress.
Long story short, Republicans are gerrymandering their states and Democrats called a last-minute referendum to gerrymander back. That is why Virginians are voting in the middle of April.
Virginia lawmakers’ proposed map would make 10 of Virginia’s 11 districts more easily winnable by Democrats.
Republicans argue Democrats are disenfranchising voters living in the state’s more rural areas, while Democrats say they are just “fighting fire with fire.”
How to vote in Richmond
The deadline to pre-register to vote and cast a regular ballot is April 14. Virginians can still vote after that point through same-day registration.
Early voting began on March 6 and will continue until April 18. After that point, voters will have to wait until election day on April 21.
Voters will need to bring one acceptable form of ID, either a Virginia driver’s license, state ID, passport or one of multiple other forms. Student IDs are accepted. Voters can also bring a utility bill, bank statement, government check or paycheck with their name and address.
Richmonders can vote early at three locations: The Richmond City Registrar (2134 W. Laburnum Ave.), City Hall (900 E. Broad St.) or the Hickory Hill Community Center (3000 E. Belt Blvd.).
All of Richmond’s early voting locations are reachable from Monroe Park through GRTC buses. Routes can be found at ridegrtc.com/maps-and-schedules/. For students living on MCV Campus, City Hall is just a short walk away.
All three early voting sites are open Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
More voting locations will open up on April 21 — they can be found at elections.virginia.gov. The polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
How to vote from home
Students who are registered to vote in other counties (or those who do not want to commute to vote in person) can vote by mail. Applications to vote by mail can be submitted at vote.elections.virginia.gov/voterinformation. In Richmond, requests can be sent by fax (804-646-7848) or email (absentee@rva.gov).