Yesterday, Virginians voted by a narrow margin to allow the state to deviate from its normal redistricting rules. The plan is to redistrict state congressional districts to move the state from 6-5 Democrat/Republican to 10-1.
It's a crude partisan move, in response to similarly crude partisan moves by Republican states. That's not why I call the referendum awful.
Rather, it's because the referendum was written in such a way as to entirely obscure the purpose of the vote. Moreover, instead of using neutral language, the referendum stated that its purpose is to "restore fairness in the upcoming elections." Obviously, whether a grossly partisan gerrymander restores fairness or just adds additional unfairness is a matter of debate.
