Friday was a bit of a bummer for the Democrats. The big one: The Virginia Supreme Court ruled on the state’s referendum to redraw its congressional districts to turn it from a 6-5 Democrat advantage into a 10-1 Democrat advantage, all by spreading the votes of a few major urban areas across a relatively large state.
It wasn’t the obviousness of the gerrymander that did it in. The issue, instead, was onethat was quite predictable, too: The state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the state’s Democrats, in rushing a process to get the referendum on the ballot and on the governor’s desk, violated strict procedural guidelines in Virginia’s state Constitution.
“To pass an amendment, lawmakers must vote for it in two separate legislative sessions, with an intervening election in between,”The Hillnoted.
“Virginia Democrats took the first vote on Oct. 31 of last year, arguing they could still act because Election Day wasn’t until the next week. But the state’s high court ruled it was too late, emphasizing early voting was open by that point, with 40 percent of ballots already cast.”
Virginia’s districting is ordinarily done by an independent redistricting commission, but theApril referendumwas supposed to temporarily suspend it. Not anymore, as the court’s decision effectively blocks the new maps from taking effect.
“This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void,” Justice Arthur Kelsey wrote in the decision, released Friday.
“While the Commonwealth is free by its lights to do the right thing for the right reason, the Rule of Law requires that it be done the right way.”
Virginia House Speaker Don Scott, a Democrat, said that “no decision can erase what Virginians made clear at the ballot box.” Which is actually untrue; it just did, because that decision was reached by improper means.
Other Democrats were more apocalyptic speaking toAxiosanonymously.
“Damn, California and Virginia were supposed to be our bigger ones,” oneHouse Democratsaid.
Source: VidNews » Feed
