VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — When voters in Virginia Beach go to cast their ballot this November, on the city level, they will vote for a mayor, an at-large school board member and a district council and school board member, if where they live happens to have race this year.
Monday, a Circuit Court Judge denied a request that would have prevented that method of voting from being used, all as part of larger lawsuit seeking to undo the 10-1 ward system used in City Council and School Board elections since 2022.
The system splits City Council and School Board seats up into 10 districts that have roughly 46,000 people in them. Only voters living within the district can vote for candidates running in that particular district.
That is quite opposite to the method the city used for many years, in which no matter where in the city a resident lived, they voted for all 11 Virginia Beach City Council and School Board members.
In January 2024, former council member and Oceanfront hotel owner Linwood Branch, as well as several others, filed a lawsuit against the Resort City, claiming that the 2023 redistricting action “unlawfully diluted their voting rights guaranteed under the Constitution of Virginia.”
Specifically, the plaintiffs, believe the 7-3-1 system outlined in the City Charter, in which there are seven district council members, three at-large and one mayor, is the method that legally should be used. However unlike in the past, the seven district members could only be voted on by people of the district.
Following a federal court ruling in 2021 that found the former longtime hybrid at-large system the city used “denies Hispanics, African Americans, and Asians equal access to the electoral and political process,” the court mandated the 10-1 system.
Monday, city attorneys argued that even after the ruling was overturned, the newly implemented Virginia Voting Rights Act made the 10-1 the only possible system, as multiple majority-minority districts could not be possible in a 7-3-1.
It will now be up to former Norfolk Judge Charles Poston to decide if the case should go to trial.
“I feel like the judge listened to our arguments and understood them,” said Chris Boynton, a deputy city attorney for Virginia Beach.