Petitioning in Virginia for minor party and independent candidates for President and both houses of Congress cannot begin until Virginia U.S. House boundaries are known. This is because statewide petitions have a distribution requirement; they need 400 signatures from each U.S. House district. Also, aside from that, presidential petitions cannot circulate before the districts are known because the petitions must carry the name of a presidential elector candidate who resides in each district.

The Virginia bills to redistrict the U.S. House seats are HB 251 and SB 455. The house bill passed the House on January 13, and both bills passed the Senate Committee that handles election law bills on January 17. However, the vote in the Senate Committee was 8-7. Democrats, who all opposed the bill, charge that the plan violates the Voting Rights Act. They also charge that because the Virginia Constitution says redistricting for U.S. House must be accomplished in the odd year after the census, any bill passed in the 2012 session of the legislature violates the State Constitution. See this story.