2 days ago
Judge voids VB City Council's vote that implemented 10-1 voting system
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A judge has ruled a 2023 vote taken by City Council to institute a 10-1 district election system is now void, but held off on dictating what system must be put into place to elect council and School Board members.
Instead, state Circuit Court Judge Randall Smith, retired out of Chesapeake, stayed his ruling Monday until after a referendum on the voting system is held in November. Voters in the city will have the choice to either endorse continuing to use the 10-1 system that has been used in the 2022 and 2024 elections, or transition to a 7-3-1 system, spelled out in the City Charter.
Either way, Smith's ruling made clear the authority to change the election system lies in the hands of the Virginia General Assembly.
Former City Council member Linwood Branch, who led several plaintiffs in bringing the suit last year, was pleased with ruling.
'Every voting change we've ever had in our city, beginning with the merger in 1963, the citizens of Virginia Beach have determined by referendum their voting system,' Branch said. 'We broke with precedent this time, but I'm glad seven members of council are now going to get us back to having the citizens have that opportunity. It's their vote. It's no one else's.'
The voting system governing Virginia's largest city has been debated for years.
In Branch's suit, the plaintiffs alleged the city illegally eliminated three at-large seats expressly established under the City Charter when it passed its decennial redistricting measure in 2023.
Virginia Beach was split into 10 separate districts of approximately 46,000 people. Each voter is only allowed to vote for the mayor and representative of the district they reside in under the 10-1 system.
That's a far change from the city's longtime system. Traditionally, Virginia Beach races were conducted in what became known as a 'hybrid at-large' system. Seven of the members serving on the city council or school board had to live in certain parts of the city, but every voter could vote for not only every district member, but also three at-large members and the mayor — thereby, a 7-3-1 system.
While a law passed by the General Assembly in 2021 abolished the use of the hybrid-at large system, 7-3-1 remains codified in the charter.
Smith agreed with plaintiffs that only the General Assembly can change the charter.
'It's a pure legal case,' said Brandan Goodwin, an attorney representing the plaintiffs. 'And you saw today that the judge's ruling was properly correct, that there was no authority in those statutes to eliminate the at-large seats guaranteed to the citizens of Virginia Beach in the city charter. That's what our case is about and now, moving forward, the city has done the right thing and is pursuing this referendum to let the citizens have a voice.'
However, the Virginia Beach City Attorney's office argued the 10-1 was the 'only legally viable system under both federal and state law' when the decennial redistricting needed to be passed.
In 2021, United States District Judge Raymond Jackson ruled that Virginia Beach's former 7-3-1 system 'denies Hispanics, African Americans and Asians equal access to the electoral and political process.'
While a federal appeals court overturned Jackson's ruling, the Virginia Beach City Attorney deemed it too late to stop the use of the court-imposed 10-1 system for the 2022 City Council and School Board elections.
Jackson dismissed the federal case after the city committed to efforts to have the General Assembly amend the City Charter for the 10-1 system.
Proponents of the 10-1 system point to Virginia Beach City Council becoming the most 'diverse city council' in the history of the city following the 2022 election. They also point to 2023 data from University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center that found the 10-1 district voting system was supported by 81% of city residents, with a 95% confidence level.
However, those in the business, tourism and agriculture communities have fought back. Branch, who owns the Days Inn at the Oceanfront, favors a new 7-3-1.
'I think every citizen has, has lost power,' Branch said. 'Would you join an HOA where you could only vote for two of 11 board members? That's what we have in Virginia Beach. You don't have the power to influence any decision and voting is accountability. … I look at our Virginia Aquarium. It's one of the jewels of our city. And yet it right now, it's unfunded. They have compromised aquarium tanks that are going to not work because nobody from other districts really cares. That's not how Virginia Beach is supposed to be, that you worry about one little district and not the whole city. More at-large representation will take care of citywide issues as well, which is important. We're not a little small town.'
Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-Va.) vetoed a City Charter change last year because of Branch's lawsuit. Late last year, a majority of City Council members didn't support requesting a charter change, as the case was still ongoing.
Smith made clear his ruling does not change the lawful elections under 10-1 of 2022 and 2024.
'He's not doing anything about that ruling until the public has a chance to speak in the referendum,' said Chris Boynton, a deputy city attorney for Virginia Beach. 'And at that point, he believes the case will likely resolve itself, either by 10-1 happening by virtue of the public support and perhaps General Assembly action, or 7-3-1 after the referendum. Then we'd have to deal with the federal and the state Voting Rights Act implications of that.'
Branch said he would honor 'the will of the people' either way.
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