Of all the bad examples of bad ideas to ever come before the Virginia General Assembly, HJ6007 must rank as one of the worst. There are two kinds of bad legislation. There’s bad legislation introduced by a well-meaning but naïve legislator who genuinely believes that their idea will work. The other kind is more sinister; legislation introduced for selfish, partisan reasons. HJ6007 is a prime example.
The first slap in the face to our democratic processes: a special session was convened during an election period.
The second slap in the face to our democratic processes: when Virginia’s voters have overwhelmingly in 2020 (66%, every city county but one) approved a fair nonpartisan proposal in a statewide referendum, the Democratic Party seeks to reverse it.
The third slap in the face to our democratic processes: the idea is to gerrymander, to redraw the lines of Virginia’s congressional districts in an attempt to purge as many Republicans as possible. We believe that revenge gerrymandering is fundamentally immoral.
The fourth slap in the face to our democratic processes: this change is motivated by nothing but selfishness. They don’t like what they perceive as Texas gerrymandering, so they think the solution is for Virginia to gerrymander. If you believe gerrymandering is a bad thing, you shouldn’t be gerrymandering!
The fifth slap in the face to our democratic processes: not only are they trying to amend Virginia’s constitution, they’re also trying to rush it through by curtailing debate and playing fast and loose with the timescales.
The sixth slap in the face to our democratic processes: this could result in a long and costly legal battle. Given that the elections are already underway, and people have already voted, it’s not clear under Virginia’s constitution whether or not it is legal (the protection in Article XII requiring an election before the amendment is considered a second time is there to give the people time to speak at a general election once the bill has been passed).
We need to stand up for, and defend, Virginia’s constitution against this unfair, immoral, and possibly illegal, onslaught. We thank all those who joined us at the “We, The People” day on October 29th and who helped our voice to be heard in this debate.
