Henrico supervisors to weigh 2 options in Census-driven reapportionment process

Henrico officials are expected to begin the process of redrawing the boundaries of the county’s five magisterial districts this summer – a process that is mandated every decade, once detailed results from the latest U.S. Census become available.

Previous iterations of the exercise have been termed “redistricting” efforts, but county officials now are calling the process a reapportionment, in order not to confuse residents who are accustomed to hearing the former term in connection with school boundary changes.

Thanks to the recent passage of the Virginia Voting Rights Bill by the Virginia General Assembly, Henrico’s Board of Supervisors will have to determine which of two possible paths to take in determining the new boundaries.

The shorter of the two would require preclearance through the Virginia attorney general (a process that would take no more than 60 days after the submission of plans), while the longer would require a number of formal public input opportunities.

The former also would require public input, Planning Director Joe Emerson told supervisors during a Tuesday work session. The board is expected to discuss the topic further during a June 8 work session and then could hold a public hearing July 13.

Through the reapportionment process, officials will be tasked (among other duties) with:

• creating five districts with a relatively equal number of residents, by using clearly observable boundaries;
• creating districts that are contiguous and compact;
• avoiding splits between districts and Census tracts or voting precincts;
• preserving the existing districts to whatever extent possible, and preserving communities of interest within each;
• protecting political incumbents so that they remain in their districts;
• considering the race and ethnicity of residents.

For decades, Virginia was one of 16 states in which localities were required to submit their reapportionment plans to the U.S. Department of Justice for preclearance, the term for approval of the plans by a state or federal entity. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 mandated that form of federal approval as a way to ensure that changes to voting boundaries or structures were not discriminatory. The 16 southern states identified in the federal act had histories of low voter turnout or discriminatory voting practices.

But the U.S. Supreme Court ended that requirement for Virginia and other states in 2013, determining that it was no longer necessary.

Virginia’s Voting Rights Act mimicked that that requirement, however, as a way to provide some oversight for the boundary revision efforts of state localities.

As part of the longer plan, Henrico supervisors would hold two public hearings – one in late November to receive initial input, then a second next April (after a separate six-week period of public comment) – followed by a required one-month wait period before submission of the plans in mid-May (or later), Emerson said.

The shorter plan, however, would not require the six-week public comment period, so supervisors would hold their first public hearing Oct. 26 and second Dec. 14, while conducting a plethora of public information sessions concurrently within that timeframe and submitting a final plan to the attorney general that same month, meaning authorization could come by late February.

County officials expect to have the detailed Census data they will need in September. The Census Bureau released state-by-state population counts April 24 and reported that the nation's total population was 331,449,281 – a growth of nearly 23 million from the 2010 Census count. Henrico's estimated population in 2019 of nearly 331,000 was about one one-thousandth of the nation's population.