Following immense population growth in Loudoun County, the ideal size of each election district will increase to 52,641 residents.
At the business meeting on October 19, 2021, Loudoun County’s Board of Supervisors (BOS) requested that 7 examples of local redistricting plans serve as “starting points” for both the public and the Board to consider how the county’s current population can be evenly grouped among election districts. This vote comes as a follow-up to the BOS business meeting from June 21, 2021, where the Supervisors decided to retain its 8 local election districts.
With the massive increase in Loudoun’s population from this past decade, the “ideal district size” for each new district will increase to 52,641 (up from approximately 39,000 in 2010). Below is a breakdown of what this will look like:
- Loudoun’s 2020 census data shows the county has 420,959 residents.
- Each district of the county’s eight election districts can have populations over/under 5% of the “ideal district size” of 52,641.
- This means the minimum district size will be 50,009 and the maximum size will be 55,273.
- The seven examples of redistricting plans will serve as “starting points” for the BOS and members of the public to decide how to balance each new district in terms of their population size.
There has been much debate over what the districts could and should look like as this process continues to move underway. The first redistricting plan contains a proposed map (Map A) with a singular rural district that covers almost all of western Loudoun County. It also shows a single district virtually split in half by the Dulles International Airport (IAD). Alternatively, the sixth redistricting plan (Map F) shows one district to contain Urban Policy area(s) and two rural western Loudoun County districts.
For each of the seven redistricting examples, towns have not been split between election districts. However, Census Designated Places (CDPs) such as Ashburn, Sugarland Run, and Brambleton have been split in some of the proposed plans. For example, Map A proposes splitting Ashburn into 3 different election districts.
The public can participate in this redistricting process beginning on November 1, 2021, when the online mapping tool goes live on the county’s redistricting website. The county’s redistricting site offers access to interactive maps as well as geographic data that will be updated periodically. Residents are encouraged to create their own districts and submit them to the county for review. The county will also be gathering feedback from residents beginning in November.
In order for the county to identify specific “communities of interest,” as well as provide a tool for the public to submit general comments about the redistricting process, county invited residents to submit comments via an online comment form. As of October 14, 2021, no public comments have been received.
To submit your own questions or comments on the redistricting process, please use this online comment form.
To learn more about the county’s redistricting process, visit Loudoun County’s main redistricting project page or visit the Local Redistricting Hub.
For more information on the county’s redistricting efforts, click here. For the county’s news release, click here.
To read the seven approved example plans directly, download here.
For questions, reach out to DAAR’s Government Affairs Director.
October 21, 2021