Ed. — From the Sunday, Dec. 12, print edition.
VIRGINIA BEACH — Lawyers for the city and plaintiffs in a voting rights case poised to change how local officials are elected filed additional comments this month to the judge weighing a proposal to create a 10-district voting system here. A final order from the judge about a new system is expected, though it is unclear exactly when.
Local elections in Virginia Beach are less than a year away. An order is expected to significantly change the system for council elections, including new political subdivisions. U.S. District Court Judge Raymond A. Jackson in March declared the at-large voting system here illegal because it denies minorities the right to elect candidates of their choice. He ordered the city to stop using it. The city appealed, but that is on hold.
A feature of the system has been the ability of all city voters to help select members of the council and School Board even when the voter is picking a representative for a district they do not live within. Due to the case and changes to state law, that will end.
The court is now in a phase meant to remedy violations of the U.S. Voting Rights Act. Jackson is considering a proposed 10-district system in which council members would represent a district and be selected only by voters in the district. The mayor, the 11th member of the City Council, would remain elected by all city voters.
Last month, both parties in the suit responded to a proposal by a special master in the matter. On Tuesday, Dec. 7, the parties essentially responded to each other’s takes on the special master plan, detailed by The Independent News in the Sunday, Nov. 28, print edition. The story and additional coverage is online at princessanneindy.com.
Attornies for plaintiffs Latasha Holloway and Georgia Allen in their response took issue with an argument by the city that the special master’s report undercuts Jackson’s ruling this spring, which the city has asked the judge to vacate. The city has maintained there is not support for the idea that Black, Hispanic and Asian-American voters vote cohesively, a central idea in showing that the voting system has denied minority opportunities in elections in violation of the U.S. Voting Rights Act.
The plaintiffs seek adoption of a proposed 10-district plan, with minor modifications. The plaintiffs say they “have detailed the numerous ways that the evidence presented in the remedial phase of this case supports the finding that Hispanic and Asian voters are politically cohesive with Black voters in Virginia Beach.”
In its own new filing, the city repeats its argument that the special master, Dr. Bernard Grofman, notes that there is not clarity about how individual minority groups vote.
“Because there is no basis for Dr. Grofman to rely on any such inferences in his work, the city respectfully submits that there is no basis for this court to rely on such inferences in its final opinion and judgement,” the city argues.
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