A vote to utilize the current maps while developing new maps from a clean slate, proposed by Barker and Newman, failed 9-7.
The members who voted in favor of that approach were Jose A. Feliciano of Fredericksburg, Virginia Thornton of Forest and Richard Harrell of South Boston — three of the four Republican-allied citizen members — along with Barker, Newman and Dels. Margaret Ransone, R-Westmoreland, and Les Adams, R-Pittsylvania.
A subsequent vote to scrap the old maps was opposed only by Barker, Thornton, Adams and Newman.
Groups and citizens against gerrymandering said they backed the creation of the commission to bring a new approach to the process.
“Starting with the old maps is problematic because they were acknowledged to be gerrymandered,” said Liz White, the executive director of the redistricting advocacy group OneVirginia2021, speaking of two court decisions in the past decade that struck down both the congressional and House of Delegates maps drawn by Virginia Republicans.
“They’ve been fixed, but that was a Band-Aid solution by special masters outside of Virginia,” she added. “The commission’s vote really exceeded all our expectations today.”
Kyle Kondik, a political analyst at the University of Virginia, said the approach could slightly benefit Democrats over the alternative.
