Amid all the Sturm und Drang over the mid-decade redistricting in Virginia and elsewhere – court challenges, campaign mailers rife with lies and racial distortions, and White House complaints against former Gov. Glenn Youngkin for not doing more to defeat the recent referendum – remember this:

At least Virginians were able to vote on the issue. More than 3 million residents cast ballots in the commonwealth last week, approving the Democratic Party proposal by 3 percentage points.

Several state legislatures – controlled by Republicans – didn’t care what residents thought about the issue. They instead adhered to the craven exhortations of President Donald Trump last year to redraw lines several years after the customary 2021 redistricting.

Trump, because of his heartless domestic agenda, knew he and GOP candidates would be in trouble at the ballot box if existing congressional maps had remained in place.

Virginia and California needed approval from voters before they could overhaul maps that would add Democratic seats to the U.S. House of Representatives. Red states including Texas, North Carolina and Missouri didn’t require – nor request – such citizen guidance.

The National Conference of State Legislatures tracks ongoing redistricting efforts around the country. “It is unusual, especially in recent history, that the states are doing this of their own volition” without court-ordered changes, Helen Brewer, NCSL senior policy specialist for elections and redistricting, told me Monday.

She said Virginia and California needed voter input because redistricting commissions draw the lines in each state.

Most Americans reject all of these political shenanigans, a Common Cause poll noted in September. The poll surveyed more than 2,000 registered voters nationally and an additional 400 to 500 registered voters in five states.

Some 64% of Republican and independent voters want to ban mid-decade redistricting, the poll found. Even more notable: 60% of voters who supported Donald Trump for president in 2024 want Congress to ban mid-decade redistricting.

Voters should decide the guidelines for redistricting, not legislators alone – and certainly not a power-mad individual in the White House.