Section 43. Apportionment of Commonwealth into senatorial and house districts

Apportionment

Members of the House of Representatives of the United States and members of the Senate and of the House of Delegates of the General Assembly shall be elected from electoral districts established pursuant to Section 6-A of this Constitution. Every electoral district shall be composed of contiguous and compact territory and shall be so constituted as to give, as nearly as is practicable, representation in proportion to the population of the district. Every electoral district shall be drawn in accordance with the requirements of federal and state laws that address racial and ethnic fairness, including the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended, and judicial decisions interpreting such laws. Districts shall provide, where practicable, opportunities for racial and ethnic communities to elect candidates of their choice.
The Commonwealth shall be reapportioned into electoral districts in accordance with this section and Section 6-A in the year 2021 and every ten years thereafter.
Any such decennial reapportionment law shall take effect immediately and not be subject to the limitations contained in Article IV, Section 13, of this Constitution.
The districts delineated in the decennial reapportionment law shall be implemented for the November general election for the United States House of Representatives, Senate, or House of Delegates, respectively, that is held immediately prior to the expiration of the term being served in the year that the reapportionment law is required to be enacted. A member in office at the time that a decennial redistricting law is enacted shall complete his term of office and shall continue to represent the district from which he was elected for the duration of such term of office so long as he does not move his residence from the district from which he was elected. Any vacancy occurring during such term shall be filled from the same district that elected the member whose vacancy is being filled.

Apportionment

Members of the House of Representatives of the United States and members of the Senate and of the House of Delegates of the General Assembly shall be elected from electoral districts established by the General Assembly. Every electoral district shall be composed of contiguous and compact territory and shall be so constituted as to give, as nearly as is practicable, representation in proportion to the population of the district. The General Assembly shall reapportion the Commonwealth into electoral districts in accordance with this section in the year 2011 and every ten years thereafter.
Any such decennial reapportionment law shall take effect immediately and not be subject to the limitations contained in Article IV, Section 13, of this Constitution.
The districts delineated in the decennial reapportionment law shall be implemented for the November general election for the United States House of Representatives, Senate, or House of Delegates, respectively, that is held immediately prior to the expiration of the term being served in the year that the reapportionment law is required to be enacted. A member in office at the time that a decennial redistricting law is enacted shall complete his term of office and shall continue to represent the district from which he was elected for the duration of such term of office so long as he does not move his residence from the district from which he was elected. Any vacancy occurring during such term shall be filled from the same district that elected the member whose vacancy is being filled.

Apportionment

Members of the House of Representatives of the United States and members of the Senate and of the House of Delegates of the General Assembly shall be elected from electoral districts established by the General Assembly. Every electoral district shall be composed of contiguous and compact territory and shall be so constituted as to give, as nearly as is practicable, representation in proportion to the population of the district. The General Assembly shall reapportion the Commonwealth into electoral districts in accordance with this section in the year 1971 and every ten years thereafter.
Any such reapportionment law shall take effect immediately and not be subject to the limitations contained in Article IV, Section 13, of this Constitution.

The apportionment of the State into senatorial and house districts, made by the acts of the General Assembly, approved April the second, nineteen hundred and two, is hereby adopted; but a re-apportionment may be made in the year nineteen hundred and six, and shall be made in the year nineteen hundred and twelve, and every tenth year thereafter.

An apportionment of senators and members of the house of delegates shall be made at the regular session of the general assembly next preceding the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, or sooner. A reapportionment shall be made in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-one, and every tenth year thereafter.

It shall be the duty of the General Assembly, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and in every tenth year thereafter, to re-apportion representation in the Senate and House of Delegates among the cities of Norfolk and Richmond, and the several counties, from an enumeration of the inhabitants of the State.

It shall be the duty of the general assembly, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and in every tenth year thereafter, in case it can agree upon a principle of representation, to reapportion representation in the senate and house of delegates in accordance therewith; and in the event the general assembly, at the first or any subsequent period of reapportionment, shall fail to agree upon a principle of representation and to reapportion representation in accordance therewith, each house shall separately propose a scheme of representation, containing a principle or rule for the house of delegates, in connection with a principle or rule for the senate. And it shall be the duty of the general assembly, at the same session, to certify to the governor the principles or rules of representation which the respective houses may separately propose, to be applied in making reapportionments in the senate and in the house of delegates: and the governor shall, as soon thereafter as maybe, by proclamation, make known the propositions of the respective houses, and require the voters of the commonwealth to assemble at such time as he shall appoint, at their lawful places of voting, and decide by their votes between the propositions thus presented. In the event the general assembly shall fail, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, or in any tenth year thereafter, to make such reapportionment or certificate, the governor shall, immediately after the adjournment of the general assembly, by proclamation, require the voters of the commonwealth to assemble, at such time as he shall appoint, at their lawful places of voting, and to declare by their votes:
First, whether representation in the senate and house of delegates shall be apportioned on the "suffrage basis;" that is, according to the number of voters in the several counties, cities, towns and senatorial districts of the commonwealth:
Or, second, whether representation in both houses shall be apportioned on the "mixed basis;" that is, according to the number of white inhabitants contained, and the amount of all state taxes paid, in the several counties, cities and towns of the commonwealth, deducting therefrom all taxes paid on licenses and law process, and any capitation tax on free negroes, allowing one delegate for every seventy-sixth part of said inhabitants, and one delegate for every seventy-sixth part of said taxes, and distributing the senators in like manner:
Or, third, whether representation shall be apportioned in the senate on taxation; that is, according to the amount of all state taxes paid in the several counties, cities and towns of the commonwealth, deducting therefrom all taxes paid on licenses and law process, and any capitation tax on free negroes, and in the house of delegates on the "suffrage basis" as aforesaid:
Or, fourth, whether representation shall be apportioned in the senate on the "mixed basis" as aforesaid, and in the house of delegates on the "suffrage basis" as aforesaid: and each voter shall cast his vote in favor of one of said schemes of apportionment, and no more.