WHAT WE NEED
OK - here's what you can do: Tell the legislators that we need them to vote on SJ18 as originally written - the same one they voted on last year! It deserves an up-or-down floor vote.
- call your delegate - there's a phone list and a tool to find out who your legislator is at wwwonevirginia2021.org/action
- post on social media - tag your legislators, asking for a vote on SJ18
- call Speaker Filler-Corn - 804.698.1041
- PLEASE be polite, factual, and respectful - you can be firm and disappointed, but emotions are running high for everyone right now and everyone is a little sensitive. More flies with honey!
- FOCUS on SJ18. Don't worry about knowing the details of the substitute or any other redistricting bill. The message is simple - we just have to stick to it.
- PHONEBANK - Please help us export the activism to key Delegates' constituents by phone banking between 9a-9p EST! This is a great step-by-step guide provided by our partner, RepresentUS. The first thing you want to do is get connected to their Slack Channel. If you don't already have one, make sure to create an account at this link so you can join their volunteer workspace and add yourself to the "#ab-call-team" Channel (seen on the left-hand side of the screen in the purple bar). There, you can click on the "pinned posts" (looks like a pushpin at the top left of the chat window) where you'll see example videos for how to use CallHub! Create a Callhub account here. Slack is how volunteers communicate, while Callhub is the service we use to actually make calls. RepresentUS staff are on monitoring the channel 9a-9p so feel free to send a message to the channel if you need help! Otherwise, call or text Daela at (801)808-0759 if you have any questions.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!?
The House has again postponed a vote on the constitutional amendment SJ18. Further, Del. Marcus Simon has said that he will be introducing a substitute to the constitutional amendment, which would start the whole amendment process over. (You can't change anything between the two readings of the proposed amendment.) The substitute is a drastic departure from the commission we've been working for - the one endorsed by national and statewide experts, every major newspaper in Virginia, and over 70% of Virginia voters. Here's what we know:
- 11 member commission, all citizens. No members of or employees of (or former members or employees of) the General Assembly or Congress can serve on the commisstion. The independent nature of this commission (lack of legislators) is great, but there's no language in Simon's proposed amendment about how the commissioners are chosen. They could put in the most obvious partisan hack they want on this commission.
- The members shall, as a whole, be representative of the racial, gender, political, and geographic diversity of the Commonwealth. Given this provision and the odd number of commissioners, there is no way to have a partisan balance on the commission. There's no detail as to how the "political diversity" of the Commonwealth is determined, but, by definition, one party will have an advantage over the other in the map-drawing process - the very thing we've been trying to avoid. Apparently Simon is saying that there would be more Dems than Reps on the commission. Woah.
- Calls for public hearing prior to drawing the maps, but does not specify a minimum number.
- Maps require 9 out of 11 commissioners' votes to pass. If the commission can't pass a map with 9 votes, the two top vote-getting maps are sent to the General Assembly for them to pick one. Good news: the G.A. can't amend the maps yet at this stage. Bad news: maps with only 6 votes (meaning a map receiving literally no votes from the minority party) could be sent to the G.A. and passed. This substitute does not say that more than a majority vote is needed to pass the maps through the G.A. so it's very possible that maps could be drawn, passed, and enacted without a single vote from the minority party - which seems to put us right back where we started.
- There is no provision for what happens if the GA. does not approve a map from the commission - so they would have to be sent to the Supreme Court...
You all are amazing. I knew this was going to be hard but I didn't know it was going to be THIS hard. Thank you for sticking with us.
Brian