RICHMOND – As the Virginia General Assembly kicked off its special redistricting session Monday, advocates of nonpartisan redistricting toted rubber snakes — as well as a giant stuffed one — into the Capitol to demonstrate their displeasure with plans for redrawn state House and Senate district lines introduced by lawmakers last week.

“The General Assembly’s gerrymandered plans for a new political map twist local boundaries, divide communities of interest and defy common sense,” said Olga Hernandez, president of the League of Women Voters of Virginia.