One Man - One, Two or No Votes

As result of the death of Emily Couric, a special election must be held to fill her seat in the Virginia Senate. However, since the district lines have already been re-drawn, the election will be held in the new 25th District, which now includes parts of the state much to the south and west of the present district, while losing much of Madison, Orange and Greene Counties.

So the new Senator will represent people in Bath, Rockbridge and Alleghany Counties. These individuals will also continue to have their present Senators, Hanger and Trumbo. And no one will represent some thousands north and northeast of Albemarle until the general election in 2002.

According to State Board of Elections spokesperson Rosanna Bencoach, this is the only possible result, and frequently happens when a special election follows a redistricting - most recently when Randy Forbes resigned from the Senate to take a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives last June.

"In practical reality, what happens is [the new senator] will take up the slack [for those temporarily without representation]," says Bencoach. "They'll watch out for their district. ... These people may not get to vote for them next time, but they live near people who do ...."

The overlapping of old and new might cause difficulties because of the dual representation.

Ms. Bencoach of the Board of Elections says that the most likely date for a special election is December 18th, since the voting machines used for the November 6th general election will be sealed for 30 days, and the Tuesdays following the 18th will be Christmas and New Year's Day. 



..../archives/2001/Oct/OneVote.txt

Referred to:
http://legis.state.va.us/

New Map:
http://dlsgis.state.va.us/Senate/SB1FloorSub/SB1FloorSub.htm