Welcome to Four Things Friday, Virginia edition!
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Hi Friend,

 

New year, new session, new form of communication. Welcome to a very special
Four Things Friday — Virginia edition!

 

Here’s what you can expect: once a month, we’re going to send you voters first
highlights including important political news from the Commonwealth. You can
expect it to be short, to the point, and informative — with a bit of zest
(because why not??)

 

With that said, here are four things to know this month: 

The 2021 legislative session is upon us.
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In case you didn’t know, the 2021 legislative session in Virginia officially
kicked off last week. As usual, legislators must contend with the perennial
issues — budget concerns, education issues, healthcare across the Commonwealth
— but there’s also a number of other new issues that make this session unlike
anything most have ever seen. To start, legislators aren’t meeting at the
capitol in Richmond. 

 

Instead, the House of Delegates will be joining the rest of us by meeting
virtually, while state senators are meeting in the Science Museum of Virginia.
It’s an unusual set-up that’s already causing some tension between the
Republican and Democratic caucuses. However, they won’t have much time to dwell
on procedural issues if they want to handle the litany of priorities leadership
is laying out — from legalized marijuana to school reopenings. 

 

The Washington Post
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breaks down the forces at play this cycle that will impact 2021 and beyond.
There’s a lot to do, not a lot of time, and partisan tensions are high. Fingers
crossed.



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At last, Virginia is putting voters first.
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A shocking metric: in 2015, a report that ranked states based on the health of
their democracies put Virginia at #50. In terms of letter grades, Virginia got
an F. We were failing — miserably. According to these metrics, our government
wasn’t working on behalf of we, the people. It was barely working at all. 

 

But reformers and Virginians got to work — and in 2020, they kicked butt.
Virginia was the only jurisdiction in the entire country where election
legislation including vote at home, ranked choice voting, and redistricting
reform was passed with bipartisan support. AND Virginia said Yes on 1 — passing
the redistricting amendment this past November. 

 

Virginians showed the rest of the country how bipartisanship can prevail to
pass nonpartisan election reform that puts voters first. And we should be damn
proud. Check out ourrecap here
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A cool resource for staying on top of redistricting
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In a huge step towards ending gerrymandering this year, Virginians passed
Amendment 1, creating a citizen-lead bipartisan redistricting commission to
lead redistricting efforts for the Commonwealth. It was a HUGE accomplishment —
but it’s only the first step. Now comes the hard part: drawing the new
districts. 

 

Earlier this month, the final commissioners were selected based off of
applicants from across Virginia.Along with their legislator colleagues, these
individuals will be responsible for shaping the new maps of Virginia, ones that
represent us all. 

 

That doesn’t mean it’s over for the rest of us! With VPAP’s nifty
redistricting page <[link removed]>, you can keep track of
the latest ongoings of the commissions, including visual breakdowns, timelines,
and the latest news. Keep up to date andsubscribe to VPAP’s updates
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Finally, follow us 💁♀️

If you’re not already following us, you should be. In addition to our lovely
Unite Virginia blog and email updates, you can also followUnite America for
national email updates <[link removed]> and stories. We’re also
onFacebook <[link removed]>, Twitter
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the latest in the world of reform.



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Matt Scoble
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Executive Director
Unite Virginia



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