Legally required every 10 years after the latest census data is released, boundary line adjustments, known as redistricting, occurs to ensure the county is sliced up into similarly sized pieces so a vote in any district carries similar weight.
The ideal population size for each district is roughly 66,900 residents, but the law allows them to range from about 64,000 to 70,000.
When crafting the proposals, county officials merged, moved and split voting precincts to bring its five districts as close to the ideal population size as possible. The process started east from Varina to Fairfield, Fairfield to Brookland, Brookland to Three Chopt and Three Chopt to Tuckahoe due to the county’s butterfly shape. Before the process began, Three Chopt was well over the ideal population while Varina fell the shortest.
Before voting Thursday, Varina Supervisor Tyrone Nelson said: “It does disappoint me that my district is going to be a couple thousands residents less than the other districts. You can’t just jump people from Three Chopt to Varina but that is where the issue is. The only way to fix that is to include Three Chopt, Brookland and Fairfield [in a redistricting proposal].”
“Since the late 80s by court distinction Fairfield is the majority minority community but this will probably be the last time and so we need to start thinking about that as we move forward,” Nelson said.
