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By JOHN GOOLRICK
Powerful Delegate Robert Ball of Henrico County is the latest victim of a redistricting technique which has done much to help Republicans gain strength in state legislatures and the U.S. House of Representatives.
Ball, a Democrat and the chairman of the House of Delegates Appropriations Committee, lost in a primary election recently to a young black Democrat with little previous political experience.
Before redistricting came about in 1991, Ball seemed safe enough in a district that included mush of Henrico County and was mostly white.
But as a result of redistricting he was thrown into a district whose population is about 55 percent black. Through he managed to squeak out a re-election victory two years ago, this time around not even his ability to get millions appropriated for various Richmond area projects could save him.
The map tells the tale. Ball was in a district where the black majority was, sooner or later, going to elect a black to represent the district.
Indeed, when redistricting came about in 1991, it created some strange bedfellows in that the Ad II the
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