Letters: Reader supports Amendment 1

Dear Editor,

I have carefully read the many news articles, editorials, and letters to the editor that have been published recently about the Constitutional Amendment on our ballot in November that is designed to end partisan gerrymandering in Virginia. In the end, I feel that a system that

• uses a balanced Commission (half Republican, half Democrat)
• has an equal number of citizens on the Commission as politicians;
• has a citizen as the Chair of the Commission;
• has specific protections for Black voters written into the Virginia Constitution;
• mandates transparency of all deliberations in creating the maps;
• requires a supermajority to pass the maps preventing the political parties from colluding against each other

is much better than the current system in which

• the political party in power draws the lines behind closed doors without any requirement for transparency thereby insuring that their party stays in power;
• no citizens are involved;
• there are no protections for minority voting rights;
• the maps can be drawn that divide communities up in spite of their shared interests.

Therefore, I will be voting FOR Amendment #1, and I hope the citizens of Henrico will do so as well.

Sincerely,

J. Clark
Henrico County