shareUpdate: Redistricting: Congressional Overlay Maps
Date: 01/21/2012
January 21, 2012
VPAP POSTS CONGRESSIONAL OVERLAY MAPS
The nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project has launched maps that make it a snap to compare current congressional district boundaries with the boundaries that yesterday cleared the GOP-controlled General Assembly.
The new maps -- endorsed by all 11 members of Virginia's congressional delegation -- represent the status quo, with only a few changes made to to reflect shifts in population. The 5th Congressional District will get the biggest makeover, extending from the North Carolina line to Fauquier County, in the outer suburbs of Washington, D.C.
Before these maps can take effect for this year's elections, the maps must gain the signature of Gov. Bob McDonnell and clearance from the U.S. Department of Justice. (Democrats had pushed an alternative plan that likely would have increased changes for the election of a second African-American member of Congress from Virginia.)