Sample Ballots

Explanation for PROPOSED Constitutional Amendment
to Be Voted On at the April 21, 2026, Special Election
BALLOT QUESTION
Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the
General Assembly to temporarily
adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring
Virginia's standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?
EXPLANATION
FOR VOTERS
Present Law
Virginia's eleven congressional districts are drawn once every ten years by the Virginia
Redistricting Commission, a legislative body made up of eight legislators and eight citizens,
with an equal number of Republicans and Democrats. Virginia'
s congressional districts were
last redrawn in 2021 and will next be redrawn in 2031.
Proposed Law
The proposed amendment would give the General Assembly the authority to redraw one or
more of Virginia's congressional districts before 2031 in limited
circumstances. In the event
that another state redraws its own congressional districts before 2031, without being ordered
by a court to do so, the General Assembly would then be able to redraw Virginia's
congressional districts. The General Assembly's powe
r to do so would continue until October
31, 2030, and the Virginia Redistricting Commission would reassume the responsibility of
drawing the congressional districts in 2031.
The
proposed district map
has been approved by
the General Assembly and
would take effect
only if the constitutional amendment is approved by the voters.
A "yes" vote would allow the General Assembly to redraw Virginia's congressional districts,
since other states have done so,
in addition to giving effect to the proposed dis
trict map in
time for the 2026 Congressional elections
, and return the responsibility of drawing the
congressional districts in 2031 to the Virginia Redistricting Commission
.
A "no" vote would leave the authority to draw congressional districts with the V
irginia
Redistricting Commission once a decade and Virginia's current districts would remain in
place.
Word Count: 240 (as of 2/20/2026
FULL TEXT OF AMENDMENT
[Proposed new language is
underlined
. Deleted old language is
stricken
.]
ARTICLE II
FRANCHISE AND OFFICERS
Section 6. Apportionment.
Members of the House of Representatives of the United States and members of the Senate
and of the House of Delegates of the General Assembly shall be elected from electoral districts
established pursuant to
this section and
Section 6
-
A of this Constitution. Every electoral district
shall be composed of contiguous and compact territory and shall be so constituted as to give, as
nearly as is practicable, representation in proportion to the population of the dis
trict. Every
electoral district shall be drawn in accordance with the requirements of federal and state laws that
address racial and ethnic fairness, including the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States
and provisions of the Voting Rights Act of
1965, as amended, and judicial decisions interpreting such laws. Districts shall provide, where
practicable, opportunities for racial and ethnic communities to elect candidates of their choice.
The Commonwealth
shall be reapportioned into electoral districts in accordance with this
section and Section 6
-
A in the year 2021 and every ten years thereafter
, except that the General
Assembly shall be authorized to modify one or more congressional districts at any point
following
the adoption of a decennial reapportionment law, but prior to the next decennial census, in the
event that any State of the United States of America conducts a redistricting of such state's
congressional districts at any point following that sta
te's adoption of a decennial reapportionment
law for any purpose other than (i the completion of the state's decennial redistricting in response
to a federal census and reapportionment mandated by the Constitution of the United States and
established in f
ederal law or (ii as ordered by any state or federal court to remedy an unlawful or
unconstitutional district map
.
Any such decennial reapportionment law
, or reapportionment law modifying one or more
congressional districts,
shall take effect immediately
and not be subject to the limitations contained
in Article IV, Section 13, of this Constitution.
The districts delineated in
the decennial
any
reapportionment law shall be implemented for
the November general election for the United States House of Represe
ntatives, Senate, or House
of Delegates, respectively, that is held immediately prior to the expiration of the term being served
in the year that the reapportionment law is
required to be
enacted. A member in office at the time
that a
decennial
redistricti
ng law is enacted shall complete his term of office and shall continue to
represent the district from which he was elected for the duration of such term of office so long as
he does not move his residence from the district from which he was elected. Any va
cancy occurring
during such term shall be filled from the same district that elected the member whose vacancy is
being filled.
SCHEDULE
Section 6. Application and duration of certain redistricting amendments.
The authorization in Article II, Section 6
authorizing the General Assembly to modify one
or more congressional districts at any point following adoption of a decennial reapportionment law
in the event that any State of the United States of America conducts a redistricting of such state's
congressi
onal districts at any point following that state's adoption of a decennial reapportionment
law shall be limited to making such modifications between January 1, 2025, and October 31, 2030,
in response to actions taken by another state between January 1, 202
5, and October 31, 2030.
Approved by House and Senate
Privileges and Elections Committees
on
February 20, 2026
.