The Redistricting Commissions efforts up to this point have been a failure, and are clearly going to show the biases of whatever party has the upper hand. The comments released from the hot mic show the Commission is aware its efforts aren't completely in good faith. It's time to take the humans out of the equation. Below is an example of Algorithmic Redistricting which completely balances each district down to the precinct. It gives equal representation and removes most of the subconscious or conscious human biases. This will get you 95% of the way to where you need to be. https://youtu.be/Lq-Y7crQo44

I grew up in South Boston, and I can tell you that the people in the area bordering North Carolina have nothing in common with the northern areas of the proposed district 5. How can anyone possibly represent a district that covers almost the entire north-south span of the state? Please do better.

Stafford County residents tend to have stronger ties with Northern Virginia (for family, work, recreation, shopping, etc.) than the rural areas to the south. As drawn, this map negates my voice.

Those of us in Stafford County do not share interests with the rest of District 1. As an e burn of the DC area, our interests are must more closely aligned with citizens to the north. As currently drawn, District 1 dilutes my voice. My representative current does NOT speak for me or my interests.

The 5th district is a mockery of "compactness." It is bigger than the state of New Jersey and impossible for a MOC to represent. It would make more sense to divide the 5th at the southern Albemarle or southern Nelson border and combine Albemarle with communities north along Rt 29 or east along I-64. The communities to the west of the Blue Ridge are less connected to the communities to the east.

I recommend that Stafford county be considered part of Northern Virginia. And for good reason. We have had rapid suburbanization and growth of families in our county over the past years. And with the many numerous Federal Employees now residing in our county with one of the fastest growing and highest-income counties in America. Stafford county needs better representation and concern by our elected officials than it has had presently. Make it happen!

For northern Virginia, this map should absolutely NOT be used. The 10th and 11th are horribly gerrymandered and make no sense geographically. The whole point of this effort is to eliminate the gerrymandering. You should craft the districts from scratch and make them fair districts.

Stafford County should not be in a more rural Congressional district that stretches all the way to Williamsburg. We have much more in common with our neighbors to the North. Please give us a competitive district! I feel like we have no representation at all and no chance at being heard in Washington. Thank you.

My first point is that the 5th District should not stretch from the North Carolina border to the outskirts of Nova. The district should be cut in half above or below Albemarle County. My second point is that it is possible, and probably preferable, to keep Fauquier intact and not divided. Even if it must be divided, the current boundaries make little sense, creating jagged edges where the 5th and the 1st cut into each other with illogical peninsulas. A better boundary would be using US 15-29 and/or 211 as the dividing boundary(ies). It creates a smoother and easier to follow border. However, keeping the County whole would be preferable. My third point is that the Commission should explore the possibility of creating a congressional district that captures the suburban/exurban Northern Virginia fringe, such as Fauquier, Culpeper, Stafford, etc., since these counties have high proportions of residents who commute to, and do other activities in, Northern Virginia, D.C., and/or Maryland. Additionally, these Counties share other similar characteristics such as rural and exurban communities, prominent agricultural/agrotourism entities, and shared environmental features such as the Rappahannock River.

I hope the commission will throw out these 2011 maps and start fresh. The 11th district is an obvious gerrymander. As is District 1 where the residents of Prince William (I was a longtime resident until recently) are grouped in with residents in southeast Virginia. Same with District 5.

CD 11 looks like a typical gerrymandered creature/district. This district crosses into and through several counties. The same can be said of District 10 (which must be redrawn because of large increase in population). Draw districts that respect jurisdictional boundaries as well as communities of interest.

CD 5 is ridiculous. 250 miles south to north - a 4-hour drive which no member of Congress would want to make to meet with constituents. Danville and Southside have nothing in common with Northern Virginia. Please redraw to make it much more compact.

The 6th district is not compact, nor does it provide a reasonable balance between rural and town/city districts. This is not substantially different than the partisan crap that came before. Get this done, or step aside and let non-partisan people (children or mathematicians) take care of this for you.

The 5th district is not compact

I agree with Sherry Zachry about district 1. I fail to see how the Davis Ford Road-River Heights in PWC has a community of interest with Williamsburg, Mathews County or James Town. We share more interest with Northern VA. And if I am not mistaken we once were joined with the Northern VA community of interest before.

The maps need to be started from scratch, the current congressional map looks really ugly. It needs compact boundaries and communities of interest need to be maintained.

It is clear that the current District 7 was drawn with political gerrymandering in mind, even if there were slight court ordered changes. It makes sense for this district to be the suburbs on Richmond and then stretch it down I-64 to Charlottesville.

The Charlottesville-Albermarle area share more in common with Richmond area than Southside. It does not make sense to have District 5 stretch from the NC border to the edge of Northern Virginia.

The 5th District is absolutely Gerrymandered and far from compact and it needs to be diced and sliced into parts of nearby districts (keeping counties and cities as whole as possible). The Southern part of the 5th should be combined with the 9th District to accommodate the significant loss of population in both the 9th and 5th.

I have found that the "community" of District 1 has very little in common. As a Stafford citizen, I have much more in common with Northern Virginia than I do Southeast Virginia. I cannot see why part of District 1 cannot be included in, for example, District 3. Why is District 3 so small and the rest of the districts spanning vast amounts of territory. You need to try to even out the areas as far as common interests, community concerns and ease of meeting with the representative. This whole map is a nightmare for those trying to meet with their reps.

Look at the combined land area of Districts 5 and 7. Make the northern half one district and the southern half the other. Easy fix.

I do not support the 5th district extending into Northern Va Counties such as Fauquier and Rappahannock. The two areas are too culturally different even though they might be rural in nature.

I think the 5th and 6th districts should be more compact. A district going from NC almost to MD is not congruous.

I agree with Cynthia Miller that Congressional District 5 should put Charlottesville City and Albemarle County together with Waynesboro, Staunton and Harrisonburg, which are bedroom communities for Charlottesville (or vice-versa) instead of putting Charlottesville/Albemarle with South Side Virginia. I prefer the map drawn by Mike Tabony which you can find at www.districtr.org/plan/48525. (Sorry but I do not know how to attach the map.) Also, this map does look a lot like the 2011 map. Is it the same?

The Supreme Court in Harris v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (2016) reaffirmed their holding that deviations greater than 10% are not constitutional under the "one person, one vote" principle. Congressional Districts 9 and 10 both have deviations greater than 10%.

The city of Chesapeake should not be grouped in with the citizens of the city of Richmond. The 757 area is very different from the 804 area and I would like to see the 757 represented better in Congress.

District 6 is neither compact nor contiguous. We include areas which have little compatibility such as Roanoke Valley and Harrisonburg, while the Roanoke region is carved away from Salem which is indistinguishable from the air and the Blacksburg region which it is closely aligned to. Meanwhile the 5th which includes Charlottesville is not aligned with Staunton, Harrisonburg, Waynesboro who they have many common cultural and economic interests with.

As of 9/9/2021, this is the old, 2011 US Congressional map. It should be labeled as such for the public until 2021 drafts are available.

District 9 is much too small and district 10 is much too big. I realize you can't get exact population equality, but +/-100k is a LOT- surely you can do better. In addition, district 9 has been losing population and district 10 has been gaining; you are giving the western part of the state much more representation than the northern part of the state, and this will only get exacerbated in the next 10 years. Also, why are you diving the Roanoke are up into 3 districts? This is what people do when they want to dilute a particular constituency's vote.

According to this draft of proposed Congressional Districts, the portion of Prince William County still aligned with Congressional District One seems to not protect "communities of interest" guideline. I fail to see how my community (Davis Ford Road-River Heights Lane) has common interests with Jamestown, Williamsburg and Mathews County. We share interests with Northern VA, not Williamsburg! I was hoping the new maps would fix this.

According to this draft of proposed Congressional Districts, the portion of Prince William County still aligned with Congressional District One seems to not protect "communities of interest" guideline. I fail to see how my community (Davis Ford Road-River Heights Lane) has common interests with Jamestown, Williamsburg and Mathews County. We share interests with Northern VA, not Williamsburg! I was hoping the new maps would fix this.