Old white men need not apply
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8 ‘citizens’ will help draw Virginia’s new political map. But how many will be average people?
Half the people who will draw some of Virginia’s most important political boundaries for the next decade are supposed to be “citizen members” — everyday people unlikely to engage in the partisan gamesmanship that mars this arcane process.
So far, the roughly 200 volunteers who have offered to represent average Virginians are exceedingly white, rich, older and male in a state with many young, female Black and brown voters. Experts worry that will lead to a panel that doesn’t fully reflect the state, and they hope a lot more people will sign up before the Dec. 28 deadline.
But the application is confusing, and it may be dissuading some qualified candidates from filling out a form.
For Rebecca Green, who teaches election law at the College of William & Mary and has closely followed the redistricting process, the ideal pool is “several thousand.”
“There’s been so much unrest and social injustice protests and so much attention given to structural problems with how our democracy is arranged,” Green said, referring to nationwide demonstrations that erupted this year over America’s deeply ingrained systemic racism. “I think this is a real opportunity to address some of those structural issues, and it’s only going to happen if people step up and apply to be part of this process.”
Virginians voted on Nov. 3 to let everyday people join a new government panel formed to end gerrymandering — the manipulation of political boundaries in order to favor a particular party or demographic group. As a result, the state is forming a new commission made up of eight citizen members and eight lawmakers who will work quickly next year to get new districts in place in time for the 2021 elections, when all 100 seats in the House of Delegates will be up. The governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general will be on the ballot, too, though the redistricting won’t affect those races since they’re statewide offices.
The new commission also will draw new U.S. House districts that will be in place in time for the 2022 elections.
According to a data analysis by the Virginia Public Access Project, about 214 people had applied for one of the eight citizen member seats as of Dec. 18. Among them, 161 identify as men and 53 — only 25% — identify as women. About 81%, or 174 people, are white.
More than half earn more than $100,000 per year and are over the age of 60. Most, 86, identify as Democrats, while 73 didn’t list a political affiliation. There are also 40 Republicans and 9 people who listed another party.
Most of the applicants are concentrated in Northern Virginia among Washington’s revenue-rich suburbs, followed by Richmond and then Hampton Roads.
In stark contrast with the applicant pool, Virginia is about 51% female, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. About 39% of the population identifies as non-white, and only 16% is age 65 or older.
And most Virginians don’t make anywhere near as much money as those who’ve applied so far: The median household income in the state is less than $75,000.
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@mik said in Old white men need not apply:
Most people who are qualified to participate are successful people with some experience. People without experience in administration or boards or whatever usually end up being dead weight that wastes time.
Subject matter expertise, likeability and trust are what matters most.
