Loudoun County Democratic Committee RESOLUTION in Favor of Holding Elections for the House of Delegates in 2022
Whereas Loudoun was the fastest growing county in Virginia during the decade 2010-2020, outpacing the Commonwealth’s 7.9% with a 34.79% growth rate; (1)
Whereas the 2021 election was conducted using districts that do not reflect this growth in Loudoun County, resulting in under-representation of Loudoun County voters;
Whereas Loudoun has three of the five most under-represented House districts, including the 87th district, which is the Commonwealth’s most over-populated; (2)
Whereas the Virginia Constitution was amended to establish a bipartisan redistricting commission, and the 2010 maps were drawn in a partisan manner; (3)
Whereas new maps with right-sized districts have been approved by the Supreme Court of Virginia;
Whereas usage of under-represented districts may violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Section 6 of Article II of the Virginia Constitution; (4) (5)
Whereas equal representation is a value of the Democratic Party, as stated in the 2020 Democratic Party Platform: “Efforts to redraw legislative districts following the 2020 Census must be guided by transparency and public input, while reducing the power of partisan actors, so that maps reflect the will of voters, fairly represent communities of color, and provide for competitive races”; (6)
Whereas the Fairfax County Democratic Committee, the Arlington County Democratic Committee, the Alexandria Democratic Committee, the Shenandoah Democratic Committee, the 5th Congressional District Democratic Committee, the 11th Congressional District Democratic Committee and others have all released public statements and/or passed resolutions in favor of 2022 House of Delegates elections;
Whereas several voting-rights groups, including NAACP Loudoun, Virginia NAACP, the ACLU of Virginia, and the Virginia League of Women Voters have come out in favor of new elections this year; now, therefore, be it
Resolved that: The Loudoun County Democratic Committee endorses 2022 elections for the House of Delegates to ensure full, timely and appropriate representation of everyone in Loudoun County.
(1) https://www.vpap.org/visuals/visual/population-change/
(2) https://www.vpap.org/visuals/visual/gainers-losers-in-redistricting/
(3) https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SJ18
(4) https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/amendment-14/
(5) https://law.lis.virginia.gov/constitution/article2/section6
(6) https://democrats.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2020-Democratic-Party-Platform.pdf
