VIRGINIA BEACH – A circuit court judge on Monday denied a request that would have prevented district elections for members of the Virginia Beach City Council this fall. He will soon issue an opinion on whether a lawsuit against the city’s voting system can move forward.
The 2024 election will proceed as scheduled under the current precinct system, Deputy City Attorney Chris Boynton said.
Former Norfolk Judge Charles Poston presided over a hearing Monday on a lawsuit filed by former Councilman Linwood Branch and several other residents who allege the city “illegally manipulated Virginia Beach’s electoral system by eliminating three at-large seats expressly have been established under the city. Charter,” and deprived voters of their rights.
Governor Glenn Youngkin on Friday vetoed a bill that would have aligned Virginia Beach’s city charter with the county election system, citing the pending lawsuit.
SB189 and its companion HB416 would have amended the city charter to create a city council with only single-member districts and a mayor. Youngkin had previously amended the bill to say it “shall not become law unless re-enacted during the 2025 session of the General Assembly.” The Senate rejected the amended bill and sent it back to the governor, who then vetoed it in its original form.
Youngkin said in his veto statement that he wants the court to “review the propriety of the implementation” and that the bill could be reintroduced in next year’s General Assembly.
After the governor’s veto, Sen. Aaron Rouse, a Virginia Beach Democrat and bill sponsor, said in a statement that the governor “has proven to the people of Virginia Beach that he is beholden to special interests who want to return us to an old system that was not representative of our city.”
Last year, the city council formally adopted a redistricting plan and authorized a precinct-based election system, the same method used in November 2022.
The council used to have four members, including the mayor, who were elected at large. These four could live anywhere in the city and were chosen by Virginia Beach residents. The remaining seven members represented districts, but were also elected by the population as a whole.
Virginia Beach’s election system was overhauled as a result of a lawsuit filed in 2017 that claimed the blanket system that allowed citywide residents to vote in every council race was illegal and diluted the voting power of minorities. A federal judge agreed in 2021, and the court imposed a district-based election system on Virginia Beach and appointed a special master to draw ten new voting district maps.
In the 2022 elections, the so-called 10-1 system was used and includes 10 districts. Representatives must live in their district and only residents who live in the district can vote for their representative. The mayor is elected at large.
The General Assembly also passed legislation in 2022 that required candidates for city council and school board to appear on ballots only for voters who live within the boundaries of their district.
The effects of the changes to the city’s voter system were immediately apparent. The council sworn in in 2023 was the most diverse — and possibly the youngest — in the city’s history, with four Black representatives and four members under the age of 45.
But the City Charter is not yet in line with the revision of the election system, and an amendment requires approval from the General Assembly.
Brandan Goodwin, the attorney for the plaintiffs, argued Monday that state law does not allow the city to take away public seats defined in the charter. He had asked in November to stop the elections under the 10-1 system, but the judge rejected that request on Monday.
Boynton said the 10-1 system complies with the Virginia Voting Rights Act and was the city’s only viable option.
“We had no other choice,” Boynton said. “There was one path; we have taken that path.”
Poston said he will review the city’s defenses and decide whether the plaintiffs’ case can succeed.
Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com
