Loudoun needs you to help map its future

By Laura Longley

By the time the Blue Ridge Leader arrives at your local newsstand, the heated election for Virginia Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General will be in our rearview mirror.

But this year, your civic obligation doesn’t end with that election. Throughout November, there’s another kind of election that could have equally profound impacts on your life. That is the legally mandated redistricting of the County, which occurs only every 10 years upon completion of the U.S. Census.

To participate, go to Loudoun.gov and search for the Local Redistricting Hub. There you can open the Local Redistricting Tool, an online mapping tool for creating and submitting your election district map recommendations to the Board of Supervisors. You’ll find seven sample plans and can develop and submit your own plans for consideration within this tool until Nov. 30, 2021.

By Jan. 18, 2022, County staff will provide the Board of Supervisors with map recommendations that have been submitted by the public.

In May, the Board will consider all options and then vote to adopt a new election district map.

Staff then will submit the new Board-approved election district map to Virginia’s Attorney General for mandated legal review.

Upon successful Attorney General review, the fully approved map of Loudoun’s new election districts should be released next August.

“The redistricting process is of major importance for every resident of Western Loudoun as over the next 10 years our area will be under enormous development pressure as Eastern Loudoun builds out,” explains Al Van Hyuck, chair of the Loudoun County Preservation and Conservation Coalition. “To me our political preferences need to be set aside and our focus put on how our future Supervisors can best represent our rural and town interests among an ever more powerful block of Eastern-oriented Supervisors.” 

According to Van Hyuck, there are two obvious choices to be made:

“Is it best to have one rural magisterial district that runs north/south and is made up entirely of rural residents in the towns and County that elects one Supervisor leaving eight in the Eastern Districts? 

“Or is it better to keep two Supervisors in the Blue Ridge and Catoctin Districts by splitting Leesburg and doing away with the Leesburg District per se?  This would allow two Supervisors to share responsibility for all of Loudoun’s towns as well as rural areas and form a strong alliance with COLT [Coalition of Loudoun Towns] and the Loudoun Historic Village Alliance.”

Van Hyuck points out that arguments can be made in support of either choice, so it is essential that those concerned come together in some open forums to reach a decision on which alternative best meets our needs.  “Then we must all join together to prepare the argument and advocate for our best option,” he adds. “Concerned members of the Loudoun County Preservation and Conservation Coalition have agreed to start the dialogue and examine the alternatives. “ 

The guidelines approved by the Board of Supervisors for the redistricting process are:

• All districts shall have equal representation.
• The plan shall comply with the Voting Rights Act.
• All districts must be compact and contiguous.
• The Census shall be the source of data.
• Preserve communities of interest.
• Create districts with similar interest among communities.
• Consider voter convenience and effectiveness of election administration.
• Use geographical or physical features, especially arterial roadways.
• Consider all alternative plans presented by interested groups and individuals.
• When possible, do not split incorporated towns.