Va. Dems Have Concerns About Redistricting Commission Rules

Virginia's effort to shift its political mapmaking tasks to a non-partisan commission is getting a second look, and it comes as many in North Carolina are considering a similar way to address gerrymandering.

Maps drawn by North Carolina's GOP legislature have been in and out of the courts for most of the decade, and judges have found racial and partisan gerrymandering. And that's led to election delays and confusion for voters.

Some voting-rights advocates have pushed to take the map-drawing responsibilities out of legislators' hands and give the authority to a non-partisan redistricting commission.

Such a measure was passed in Virginia this year. But now there are some questions about how it might work. 

The Washington Post reports that a few Democrats in the Virginia Legislature who originally supported the idea may not be so sure anymore. 

Here's why: the new amendment would allow the state Supreme Court to decide political boundaries if the commission's maps don't win legislative approval. A majority of the current Virginia justices were chosen by Republicans.

And that leads to fears that partisanship could return.