VIRGINIA BEACH — The commonwealth is backing Virginia Beach’s appeal of a federal voting rights lawsuit that recently led to a new 10-district voting system here.
Echoing points the city has made in its ongoing appeal, the state on Friday, Jan. 21, filed a brief that challenges the basis of the 2021 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Raymond A. Jackson that found the former Virginia Beach voting system violated a section of the Voting Rights Act by denying Black, Hispanic and Asian-American voters a fair say in local elections.
Now the city has a court-ordered local voting system with new districts, and the first round of local elections under this new system is scheduled for November. Despite the approaching election and efforts to inform voters about the changes, a majority of the City Council this past week reaffirmed their commitment to continuing the appeal during a public vote.
The brief filed by the commonwealth concurs with the city’s position in saying the law does not support a “coalition” claim from multiple minority groups, noting that “the Supreme Court has never accepted the coalition theory embraced by the district court.” The state argues that the plaintiffs, Georgia Allen and Latasha Holloway, challenged a system that is now defunct. Additionally, it argues the plaintiffs, who are Black, “cannot assert the interests of a large, geographically dispersed and politically disparate coalition” of multiple groups.
“The district court assumed, in the face of overwhelming contrary evidence, that all minority voters in Virginia Beach have the same political preferences and voting behavior,” the commonwealth argues. “That perverse assumption must be corrected because it relies on and perpetuates racial and ethnic stereotypes inimical to the” Voting Rights Act.
Virginia Beach’s controversial former voting system allowed all voters throughout the city to participate in all council elections, even when they lived outside a geographically defined district at issue in a vote.
Jackson ordered an end to that system in March 2021. In late December, he ordered the adoption of the new 10-district plan that is expected to be in effect this year for City Council and School Board elections.
The old system would have changed anyway due to new state laws that went into effect last year, including a measure introduced by state Del. Kelly Fowler, D-21st District, which prevents people living outside a voting district from determining its representation. Only residents of a district can vote for a district representative under the new system in Virginia Beach, which has sometimes been referred to as a ward system.
The commonwealth’s filing was an amicus brief, which is made by someone who is not a party to a lawsuit but has a stake in an outcome it wants to influence. It was filed by Virginia Solicitor General Andrew Ferguson, an appointee of Attorney General Jason Miyares, the Virginia Beach Republican who took office this month after serving in the House of Delegates.
Indeed, Miyares is mentioned within the filing, which notes he was elected to the House of Delegates from Virginia Beach, becoming the first Cuban-American member of that body despite his political affiliation — and he is now the first Hispanic person elected to hold a statewide office here in Virginia.
Allen and Holloway are represented by the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit and nonpartisan advocacy organization. Annabelle Harless, the center’s senior legal counsel for redistricting, said via email on Saturday, Jan. 22, that the attorney general’s brief largely repeats the city’s claims.
“This is no surprise, as Mr. Miyares was disclosed as a potential witness by the city at the trial court,” Harless said in the email. “Mr. Miyares does not speak for Virginia Beach’s minority community.”
In a statement released on Saturday, Jan. 22, Miyares defended the city’s former voting system – even though, the federal court ruling aside, it could no longer function as it has in the past under current state law.
“Assuming that all Hispanic, Asian and Black voters in Virginia Beach breathe, think and live their lives the same way simply because they are all members of racial minority groups is a backwards way of thinking,” Miyares said in his statement.
The commonwealth argues that evidence presented in the case undercuts the strength of the coalition claim because political preferences sometimes conflict.
“Virginia Beach’s Filipino community, the city’s largest Asian population, for example, backs Republican candidates and conservative policies, while the Black community typically supports Democrat candidates and progressive policies,” the filing states.
The city’s appeal had been on hold until the end of the district court process, but Virginia Beach refiled its objection to the decision this month. Oral arguments in the matter tentatively are scheduled for March.
Ed. — This is a developing story. Further coverage is scheduled for the Sunday, Jan. 30, print edition. Read extensive coverage of Virginia Beach voting rights issues at this link. This story was updated on Sunday, Jan. 23, with comment from the Campaign Legal Center.
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