But not so complicated that legislators couldn’t find a way to gerrymander, says University of Mary Washington political scientist Stephen Farnsworth.
“Where there’s a will to gerrymander, there will be a way to gerrymander,” he says.
The big constraint will be whatever courts finally do with the challenge to the 3rd since that would set standards the General Assembly will have to follow in 2021 when trying to fit in a 12th district.
The most obvious thing to do, he says, is to create a district encompassing all of Prince William County — now divided into three. It would have to include more than just that county, though, and would have overcome the current fact that splitting PW among three districts suits GOP map-drawers just fine.
