Public Redistricting Forum

Historic Courthouse, Palmyra, Virginia
October 11, 2017

On Wednesday, October 11, 2017, come to the free non-partisan, day-long workshop that will take place in Fluvanna's 1830 Historic Courthouse. The pedimented Greek Revival building dominates Court Square in the village of Palmyra, Virginia. For GPS input #14 Stone Jail Street. The doors will open at 9:00 AM. Coffee and doughnuts will be available. Formal discuss ion starts at 10 o’clock. Agenda below.

SCHEDULE

9:00 am: The Courthouse opens. Coffee & doughnuts. - It is court day so parking may be scarce. Overflow parking at E.W. Thomas Grocery 13027 James Madison Highway. Additional parking at Fluvanna Public Library, 214 Commons Blvd. Palmyra, where vans will take you to and from the workshop.

9:30 am: Please sign in. - Pick up a form for written questions and a map to fill in and mail back, identifying coherent communities you want to maintain when electoral districts are redrawn where you live.

10:00 am: Lindsay Nolting, workshop organizer, introduces the workshop and its topics.  Virginia's need for re-districting reform. Recent steps toward reform. How can Virginia erase politics from voting district maps?

10:05 am: The Courts, the Legislature, and More

Panel:
Professor Daniel Ortiz, University of Virginia School of Law
Senator Jill Vogel, Virginia Senate, Republican candidate for Lieut. Governor
Grant Tate, CEO, The Bridge Ltd., citizen everyman for this panel
Moderator, Linda Perriello, founding board member, OneVirginia2021

Panelists respond to written questions

LUNCH BREAK - Forum organizers recommend E.W. Thomas Grocery and First Run Café. Both are across the bridge on Rte 15 and right on Rte 53. Free picnic tables next to the Old Courthouse and across from the Old Stone Jail. Phone any lunch orders to E.W. Thomas at 434-589-8412

1:30 pm: Field Reports

Panel:
Katie Webb Cyphert, Lynchburg Democratic Committee Chair, Virginia House of Delegates candidate for District 22 in 2013
Chris Fairchild, former Fluvanna County Supervisor
Michael Latner, re California Citizens Redistricting Committee. See Panel III

Questions

2:30 pm: Algorithm Men - Computer use in drawing electoral district lines. The audience gets a sample of how civic technology professionals talk among themselves.
Brian Cannon, Executive Director, One Virginia 2021, will introduce the participants

Panel:
Michael Latner, Associate Professor of Political Science at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; Faculty Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy’s Digital Democracy Initiative. Co-author of Gerrymandering in America: The House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, and the Future of Popular Sovereignty, (Cambridge University Press, 2016)
Ray Axdorff, Marine veteran, computer scientist
Brian Cannon, Executive Director, OneVirginia2021

Questions

3:30 pm Mac Griswold, co-organizer: Additional action to support fair re-districting.
 

ADJOURNMENT