FARMVILLE – One precinct in Buckingham County was omitted by Senate Republicans but apparently will not foil the statewide redistricting plan forced through the Senate by the GOP on Monday.

The plan's fine print will apparently cover the omission because the redistricting was based on precincts in existence as of April 1, 2011.

The Georgia Creek precinct along the James River is not listed in the redistricting plan posted on the Division of Legislative Services website, and so, technically, its residents are not among the precincts assigned a Senate district and State Senator.

But it was created as a precinct, effective June 1, 2011.

The omission of the precinct was discovered by The Herald on Wednesday when studying the plan's local impact and fact-checking the county's precincts with Buckingham Voter Registrar Margaret Thomas.

Buckingham is split between two Senate districts in the plan and so its precincts, as are those of all localities divided into two Senate districts, are listed one by one in the redistricting plan. And Georgia Creek is omitted.

When told by The Herald on Wednesday that the Georgia Creek precinct wasn't in the redistricting plan, Buckingham Voter Registrar Margaret Thomas replied, “It's a fairly new precinct and maybe it was overlooked.”

Thomas then reviewed the redistricting plan herself and called The Herald back to say, “I've looked through it and I can't find Georgia Creek.

“I think they have done exactly that-overlooked it (the precinct),” she said. “You can point that out.”

The redistricting plan was approved by a strict party line vote, 20-19, on Monday when Democratic Senator Henry Marsh was in Washington, D.C. attending the inauguration of President Obama.

The Senate GOP plan was based on precincts as they existed as of April 1, 2011, and the Georgia Creek precinct was created effective June 1, 2011, following Buckingham's redistricting based on the 2010 Census. In 2010, those now in the Georgia Creek precinct were included in the New Canton precinct, which is moved to the 10th Senate District of Sen. John Watkins in the new plan.

The lack of specific reference to the Georgia Creek precinct apparently will not require an amendment to the Senate plan, a vote that could create the tie-vote scenario the GOP avoided this week.

With Sen. Marsh absent, Senate Republicans avoided a 20-20 tie vote that would have been broken by GOP Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling, who could not be counted on to vote with his party and criticized the plan, and the political machinations of Senate Republicans, after the vote.

The redistricting plan now requires House of Delegates action, expected by the end of the week, and if approved would move on to the desk of Governor McDonnell, who has also expressed disappointment with Senate Republicans.

The Virginia Constitution proscribes that redistricting occurs once every 10 years, following the national Census. The General Assembly passed a redistricting plan in 2011. The plan pushed through the Senate on Monday, a second redistricting plan within two years, is unprecedented in Virginia history.