Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 14, 1991 TAG: 9103140519
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
A computer system purchased by the state to handle redistricting will enable legislators to quickly pull together maps, population figures and voting patterns. Outside interest groups also are using computers.
When the lines were redrawn in the early 1980s, legislative staffers drew districts on maps tacked on the walls of "war rooms" in the General Assembly building. There are still plenty of maps, but now the rooms are dominated by the computer system that any legislator can use.
The House of Delegates and Senate Privileges and Elections committees will meet in Richmond next week to draft redistricting plans for their respective chambers. The assembly will vote on the plans when it meets in a special session beginning April 1.
House Privileges and Elections Committee Chairman Ford Quillen, D-Scott, said even though the computers will make redistricting more sophisticated they may not make it easier, because of other factors.
They include incumbents seeking to protect their seats and Republicans, blacks and other minorities trying to increase their representation in the 40-member Senate and 100-member House.
The district lines are redrawn every 10 years after the national census. The 1990 count showed that Virginia's population has increased nearly 16 percent to 6.2 million with most of the growth in suburban areas. Some rural and urban areas have lost residents.
The result will be the creation of new districts in Northern Virginia and a loss of legislative seats in Southwest and south-central parts of the state.
The computers will be back at work in November, when the assembly holds a special session to redraw the state's 10 congressional districts and add an 11th district that Virginia gets because of population growth.
by CNB