As Virginia’s redistricting commission prepares for its first public hearings, one the commission’s most pressing issues is replacing one of its members and considering geographic representation on the body in the process.
Commissioner Marvin Gilliam abruptly resigned from the commission last week. In his resignation letter, obtained via a records request, Gilliam said it was for a health and personal issue.
The resignation leaves the commission with seven Republicans and eight Democrats, but also leaves the Southwest Region unrepresented on the board. Gilliam, who is from Bristol, was the only southwest Virginian on the commission. State law required geographic diversity is considered and requires that the body as a whole is representative of Virginia’s diversity.
There is only one southwest Virginian on the list of candidates that Senate Minority leader Tommy Norment submitted, which the commissioners will use to pick their new candidate.
State Senator George Barker said the commissioners could pick someone that isn’t from southwest Virginia, if they chose to or if that candidate isn’t able to serve.
“We do have a responsibility to make sure that there's inclusiveness in terms of where the members of the commission are geographically located within the Commonwealth, as well as other types of things related to race, ethnicity, income, age, all those types of things,” said Barker. “So it's not just one issue, we have to balance a number of things.”
The commission has been striving to make sure the process of drawing new maps stands up to legal scrutiny, and are in the process of negotiating with law firms with different partisan approaches. The commission meets in Richmond next week and will likely discuss the new commissioner.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
