Ed. — From the Sunday, Aug. 27, print edition.
VIRGINIA BEACH — A lawsuit filed in federal court by two city residents, one of whom has run for office here, claims the 2022 local elections in Virginia Beach were unlawful because they used a court-ordered 10-district voting system though the City Charter had not been changed to allow this.
The lawsuit also alleges some members of the council should not be in office, among a series of accusations the city disputes.
City Council and School Board elections were held in 2022 under a 10-district voting system for the first time due to litigation and following changes to state law that effectively ended the city’s old system, in which all city voters, including people living outside a residency district, could help select the people who represented those districts.
The 10-district system was ordered into effect by a federal judge who found the former city voting system violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act by denying minority voters an opportunity to select candidates of their choice. An appeals court decided the order was moot due to changes in state law, but the 2022 elections were already underway, and they proceeded using the 10-district plan because the system had been implemented and there were candidates in races.
The new federal lawsuit filed by Donnie Edwards and Richard “R.K. Kowalewitch on Friday, July 28, claims that the City Council should have sought a change to the city charter prior to using the 10-district system.
Virginia Beach is now poised to do so.
The City Council on Tuesday, Aug. 15, voted to adopt the 10-district system through a redistricting ordinance.
The city is expected to also ask the Virginia General Assembly to consider either a general law or City Charter change regarding the system, according to a presentation by the city attorney’s office.
The steps should clear the way for the 10-district system in 2024 elections, but, essentially, the new suit questions whether it should have been used in 2022 at all.
“This is about the charter, and the charter is a powerful thing,” Donnie Edwards, one of the plaintiffs in the suit, said during an interview. “It’s the constitution of Virginia Beach, if you will. It defines what the government can do. Our charter says one thing, and that’s it, and they did something else.”
However, Deputy City Attorney Chris Boynton called the lawsuit factually incomplete in presenting a set of claims that are not backed up by the law.
“A federal court order takes precedence over state and local law,” Boynton said. “The 2022 election system was ordered by a federal court and implemented based upon that order.”
During an interview on Thursday, Aug. 24, Boynton added that challenges to a state or local elections must be brought within 30 days of the election under state law.
Kowalewitch, a businessperson who has sought local office in the past, including running for mayor, was among the speakers at City Hall on Tuesday, Aug. 15, prior to the City Council vote to adopt the 10-1 system and the redistricting plan.
He said the previous council allowed the 2022 elections to take place “knowing it was unlawful by violating the City Charter,” and alleged that votes taken since had been unlawful, too.
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