Ed. — From the Sunday, May 23, print edition. The city on Wednesday, May 26, announced that it will appeal in the federal suit. The 7-3-1 local voting system may still be recommended by the city to the court, though it would not be a joint recommendation.
VIRGINIA BEACH — The city is seeking public input about a possible new local voting system that could reshape politics here and help resolve a lawsuit in which a judge found the existing system violates federal law by denying minority communities a fair voice in the government.
The City Council is scheduled to consider a proposed local system on Tuesday, June 15. Support for the proposal would mean Virginia Beach and the plaintiffs in the civil suit would recommend it to the U.S. District Court, which would need to approve the agreement and maps of new political boundaries.
On Tuesday, May 11, Deputy City Attorney Christopher Boynton provided the first briefing to the public about potential changes to the system that could resolve the lawsuit while also complying with new state laws that also mean the voting system the city had used for decades cannot continue.
Details of the possible voting system were first published by The Independent News in its print edition on Sunday, May 9. Another public briefing about possible changes to the system is scheduled for Tuesday, June 1. Public hearings are scheduled for Tuesday, June 8, and Tuesday, June 15, which would be the day the council could act.
“This is a very complicated situation,” Mayor Bobby Dyer said during the meeting at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. “To a large degree, many things were out of our control. I wish we could have done things a little better, but, between Covid and a whole bunch of other complicating factors out there, we have been painted into a corner.”
“It will forever change the face of politics in Virginia Beach and how we make decisions,” City Councilmember John Moss, who holds an at-large seat, said, urging the public to research the current issues and what led up to them.
City Councilmember Aaron Rouse, who holds an at-large seat, said it was important to conduct public engagement that does not “put forth a narrative that evades our responsibility and accountability” to the citizens. “It’s hard to look at yourself in the mirror and point out your flaws,” Rouse said. “It’s even harder to accept those flaws, and then determine you’re going to be able to fix them and do something about it.”
In his remarks, Rouse addressed an opportunity the City Council had last year to hold a referendum about whether to continue the existing at-large system. People are frustrated they could not voice an opinion, he said.
U.S. District Court Judge Raymond A. Jackson on Wednesday, March 31, agreed with plaintiffs Latasha Holloway and Georgia Allen in finding the Virginia Beach system “dilutes the voting strength of Black, Hispanic and Asian American voters.” The city has disputed facts and some arguments in the case, such as whether the minority groups noted in the suit vote as a bloc. But controversy about how local leaders have been elected here is not new, and it has been at the heart of past discussions and public referendums.
Virginia Beach’s way of selecting members of the City Council and the School Board has been an unusual process in which people who do not live within seven geographically defined districts help select the representatives for those districts. The system includes four at-large, meaning citywide, seats – on the City Council, that includes the directly-elected mayor, who is a member of the council – and seven residency districts, in which candidates must live in certain areas but all city voters pick the representative.
Now, as part of a potential settlement, Virginia Beach’s government is considering what officials have called a “7-3-1” system. This could resolve the federal suit while meeting the standards of new state law, including the much-discussed bill introduced by state Del. Kelly Fowler, D-21st District, that requires district or ward representatives to be elected only by voters who live within the district or ward.
“There were changes in Virginia state law that occurred after this case was tried in October of 2020 but before the court issued its ruling in March of 2021,” Boynton said during the briefing. “and where we find ourselves by virtue of the legislative changes, is that even without the court’s ruling, the election system would still be changing.”
In the possible 7-3-1 system for City Council elections, the mayor would be elected by all city voters, and there would be seven wards and three superwards similar in concept to superwards in Norfolk. Superwards could cover multiple wards but not the entire city, as the four at-large council seats do under the present system. Candidates would need to reside within a ward or superward, and only people residing within those boundaries would vote to determine its representation. Voters under this proposed system could vote for three members of the council though they have voted for all 11 council members in the past.
At least two wards and one superward would be drawn as “minority opportunity” districts. If parties cannot agree upon maps, the settlement process could fail, according to the city. The city attorney’s office hopes to make suggested maps of wards and superwards public in early June.
The suit addresses council elections, though a changed system would also likely alter School Board elections.
“The only difference to their system is their chair is not elected at-large from the public,” Boynton said, describing the current system. “It is elected by their members, and so the chair does not have to be one of the four at-large members. It can be any of the 11 members of the body.”
By the city charter, School Board elections mirror council elections, so a new system likely would apply to the School Board, though there is uncertainty about how the 11th member of the board might be selected by voters.
The city has filed a notice of appeal in the federal suit, but that would be on hold through Thursday, July 15, a deadline for settling the case. Regardless of the resolution of the lawsuit, changes to state law mean the city’s local voting system will change prior to the 2022 City Council and School Board elections. Citizens will no longer elect all 11 members of the City Council, according to Boynton’s presentation.
Among the time pressures facing the city are the need to get a system in place prior to the 2022 local elections and the need for U.S. Census data used to determine the boundaries of political subdivisions. It normally would be available by now, but the data is delayed.
“Because of Covid-19, we understand that census data will not be available for local use until at least Aug. 30 of 2021 and, perhaps, after the state spends some time working with that data and passing it along to the locality,” Boynton said.
With recent census data unavailable, the process of developing maps for wards and superwards would use American Community Survey data. Census data could then be used to “tweak” boundaries, according to the briefing.
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