Richmond
City Council /
News Release
For
sharing, forwarding, and posting
Friday, 10 December
2021
Richmond Decennial Voter District Redistricting process
to begin
Richmond,
Virginia – Every ten years, following
the release of the decennial census by the United States Bureau of the Census, Richmond
City Council updates the nine Richmond Voter Districts to reflect population
shifts during that time in order to properly balance them across the City. This
is known as the Richmond Decennial Voter District Redistricting process.
Richmond’s nine local Richmond Voter Districts are used to elect members of
Richmond City Council, Richmond Public Schools Board of Trustees, and a Mayor
At-Large (who must win five of the nine districts).
Richmond City Council is
poised to begin the initial part of this process during its regularly scheduled
Richmond
City Council Formal Meeting on Monday, December 13, 2021; 6:00-8:00 p.m. (https://richmondva.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=845590&GUID=B1C4ECF5-6B18-412F-8D48-7850CAE5C726&Options=info|&Search=) with the introduction
of a proposed resolution for establishing criteria (https://richmondva.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5349159&GUID=78D28E25-8D2E-4DF5-815C-5B8E7D2DBE3D&Options=&Search) that will be used to guide the public process
and establishment of updating Richmond Voter Districts.
It is the intent of
Richmond City Council for the proposed resolution to be introduced and then for
it to proceed through the regular Council public legislative process that
includes Council Standing Committee referral and public deliberations.
The intent and purpose of
the criteria is for redistricting to be fair, inclusive, and equitable on
behalf of Richmond residents. The proposed criteria in the legislation was
developed with the assistance of the Richmond Office of the City Attorney’s
redistricting consultant, Mr. Gerry Hebert, and were publically discussed
during the Richmond City Council Informal meeting, held on October 11, 2021,
and again during the Council Organizational Development Standing Committee
meeting, held on December 6, 2021.
Also included as part of
the draft Resolution is a proposed
timeline (https://richmondva.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5349159&GUID=78D28E25-8D2E-4DF5-815C-5B8E7D2DBE3D&Options=&Search) for initiating the Richmond Decennial Voter
District Redistricting process. This also will include additional opportunity
for public input, discussion, awareness, engagement, and feedback.
Richmond City Council is
committed to ensuring the criteria and process is clearly defined, transparent,
inclusive, equitable, and driven by and responsive to resident input,
discussion, and feedback.
Richmond residents are invited to contact the Richmond
City Council member that represents them (https://www.rva.gov/richmond-city-council/council-contacts) for more information and/or to share their thoughts and
ideas and/or to email the Richmond
Decennial Voter District Redistricting
information portal, at redistricting@rva.gov.
Richmond residents are also invited to
visit the Richmond
City Council Redistricting information portal (https://www.rva.gov/richmond-city-council/redistricting) for updated information during the process.
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