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Under the 1971 Virginia Constitution each county in the state must be redistricted or the population reapportioned to insure the one man-one vote requirement as stipulated by the United States 1965 Voting Rights Act. Present magisterial districts may be retained for territorial and historical purposes but boundaries must be established for election districts to equalize the population of the districts. The full authority and responsibility for reapportionment has been delegated the Board of Supervisors of each county with assistance or recommendations from whatever source might be feasible. In the case of Rappahannock, the already established Planning Commission was asked to study the situation and come forth with recommendations. This com mission is comprised of H. S Barksdale, Flint Hill, chairman; Allen Stokes, Sperryville, vice chairman; Thomas Williams, Flint Hill, David Fannon, Amissville and J. Newbill Miller Washington, chairman of the local Board of Supervisors. Under the new constitution, reapportionment will be mandatory every ten years, and the deadline this year is July 1. The Board of Supervisors are priviledged to expend such funds as necessary for assistance in the reapportioning program, however, an attempt is being made to limit expenses and it is hoped that a local survey or census will not be necessary to determine population boundaries for this could be costly.
Rappahannock County’s total population as declared in the 1970 U. S. Census stands at 5,199. The county is presently divided into six magisterial districts with population as follows: Jackson, 1043; Wakefield, 1177; Piedmont, 840; Hampton, 1231; Stonewall, 575; Hawthorne, 333. With the sparse population of both Stonewall and Hawthorne districts which adjoin, a move to combine the two had been considered, even before reapportionment became mandatory. With only five districts a tie vote would not occur.
Taking the five district plan Rappahannock’s population would be just over a thousand individuals (1040) per district. Using this method, Jackson is in good shape and Hampton and Piedmont could be by including Gib Brown Hollow in Piedmont instead of in
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