VIRGINIA BEACH — People gathered at New Hope Baptist Church this month for a forum about voting rights in the city following an appeals court ruling that added the latest twist to local voting changes in Virginia Beach.
Some speakers during the Monday, Aug. 8, meeting including two members of the City Council, spoke critically of recent events, including discussions by Mayor Bobby Dyer and Vice Mayor Rosemary Wilson and some on the council about placing a referendum question on the ballot this year asking voters about what new voting system they prefer.
The idea ultimately was scuttled as impractical and potentially confusing, but the matter has shown tensions among members of the council, not only during the community meeting but in recent City Council meetings.
City Councilmember Aaron Rouse, who is running for a state senate seat, called the meeting after saying he and two other members of the council — including the only two Black people who were on the body at the time — had been excluded. Dyer and Wilson have said all members of the council would have had input had the idea gone forward.
“We’re here about voting rights within our city and how important it is to make sure everyone in our city is represented fairly and equitably and equally,” Rouse said during the gathering at New Hope Baptist.
“This is a call to action to make sure everybody in this room understands how important their vote is,” he said later.
Rouse said he had become aware of an “underground-type shadow movement” since the Holloway v. Virginia Beach federal lawsuit changed the system here. Some people appeared to mean to move the city back to an all at-large voting process, and Rouse said the public needs to know what is going on with government.
This year, Virginia Beach local elections for City Council and School Board seats will be held under a court-ordered new 10-district voting system.
A ruling last year by U.S. District Court Judge Raymond A. Jackson found the former city system violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act because it denies African-American, Asian-American and Hispanic voters the ability to elect candidates of their choice.
A recent appeals court decision found that the ruling by Jackson was moot because changes to state law already had made Virginia Beach’s former system, a controversial mix of at-large seats and district seats, a thing of the past by the time Jackson ruled.
Following the appeals decision and concerns about a possible referendum question, Rouse called the meeting in coordination with the local NAACP branch and the Virginia Beach Interdenominational Ministers Conference. Attendees included City Councilmember Sabrina Wooten and state Del. Kelly Fowler, D-Virginia Beach. Fowler introduced a 2021 bill that led to the end of Virginia Beach’s former system, in which people living outside districts helped pick representatives for those districts.
A possible ballot question floated by Dyer and Wilson could have asked about an all at-large system, similar to the one used by Chesapeake. This has led to concerns among people who support the new district system because district voting, in addition to addressing racial representation issues in the court matter, can mean greater participation in political contests that are expensive when they are run citywide.
During the meeting at the church, Dr. Karen Hills Pruden, president of the Virginia Beach branch of the NAACP, said citizens will need to continue to fight for representation – and that people are “furious” about recent events.
Pruden said there is a “perceived fear that district-based voting will disrupt existing racial hierarchies already in control. Maybe the city felt it necessary to continue to dilute the voters’ power through at-large City Council elections.”
She added, “We are undeterred, however, and will continue to fight for the voting rights of the disenfranchised voters of this city, particularly African Americans.”
Wooten said conversations of importance should involve all and be transparent.
“It seems like no matter how hard we fight, no matter how concerned we are, the fight just begins – it has just begun,” she said. “Here we are again talking about the same thing, equality. Making sure every vote is counted. Every voter is heard. And, unfortunately, it seems like some people, some leaders behind the scenes want to do everything they can to stop it. My response is, very simply, enough is enough.”
The Rev. Dr. James Allen, president of the Virginia Beach Interdenominational Ministers Conference, spoke about the pursuit of equal rights in the city — and that it is not necessarily just a racial issue but also a fight for financial fairness.
“We have got to understand there are people on City Council who are there because the at-large voting system allowed big-money politics to come along and back them so that, therefore, they stay in power,” Allen said.
The need to run a citywide campaign makes it hard for candidates to compete for the voters’ attention, he said. District voting makes it more likely people can afford to run for local office.
Deputy City Attorney Chris Boynton also spoke during the meeting about the history of the voting system, the Holloway lawsuit, changes to state law and what may come next. “It speaks to all of you that you are engaged citizens interested in this process and where it goes from here,” he said.
On Tuesday, Aug. 16, Dyer and Rouse traded words at City Hall during a discussion that followed an overview by Boynton of issues related to the city voting system.
Boynton noted that the appeals ruling means the city is no longer on the hook to pay millions of dollars in legal fees for the plaintiffs, but that the case also was returned to the trial court. The plaintiffs could make amended claims.
Importantly for the public, Boynton said, is the understanding that the 10-district system, which includes three minority opportunity districts, remains in effect for this year’s local elections, despite the result of appeal. Among other issues, the candidate filing deadline has passed and precinct boundaries and polling locations have been updated.
“Certainly, the question has been asked what could we do since we’re not under a federal court order to change the system for this election?” Boynton said. “And the answer is functionally nothing.”
There simply isn’t time due to when the appeals court decision came in. “Going forward, however, you have not determined your system for November 2024 and beyond,” he added. Virginia Beach could pursue charter or statutory changes in 2023 or 2024 General Assembly sessions.
“Importantly, any system you wish to change to would need to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act, with the Virginia Voting Rights Act and with HB2198 unless any or all of those laws were changed somehow,” Boynton said, addressing the 2021 bill introduced by Fowler that challenged the former Virginia Beach at-large system.
He added that the Holloway case remains in district court. “So there is essentially a kind of informal preclearance process that the appellate court created whereby the trial court can review any changes that we make if the plaintiffs wish to come back and challenge them,” Boynton said.
Rouse discussed the community meeting with his colleagues on the council, and he noted that the merits of the case were not challenged by the appeals decision. He read from Jackson’s ruling, which discussed the negative effects of discrimination in the city.
“The mayor and I are meeting next week, and I’m hopeful for a fruitful conversation,” Rouse said.
He raised questions about the wording of the possible referendum question that had been discussed but was ultimately scuttled before being brought forward.
“We have been talking about giving the voter the opportunity for years on how to vote,” Dyer said.
Dyer said sometimes ideas do not come to fruition, and this was the case with the possibility of placing a referendum question on the ballot this year. Dyer said, “After discussion and reflection, we elected not to bring it forward for a number of what we considered — ”
Rouse interjected, and a heated exchange.
“The point is we did not bring it forward,” Dyer said.
“Who is we?” Rouse interjected.
“Mr. Rouse,” Dyer responded. “I’m going to thank you not to interrupt.”
“Who is we, Mr. Mayor?” Rouse asked.
Dyer said the referendum idea was a only a concept.
“Understand the concept of a concept,” Dyer said.
He said it would have come to the full council had it been put forward.
Rouse said the least that could have been done was to issue an apology and acknowledge everyone should have been contacted. “We’re talking about voting rights,” he said later in the conversation. “We’re not talking about some deal in some district.”
After some back and forth, Dyer said he and Rouse would discuss the matter further this coming week.
A moment later, Wooten noted that “actions have consequences” during the discussion.
“There was some exclusion that took place,” Wooten said, adding that the council should be transparent.
That evening, Wooten in an interview said she hoped communication among the council would improve.
“I think it’s important to bring it to light and address it so in the future we as a body don’t continue that practice,” she said. “It’s very divisive.”
Ed. — Information about the new districts, which are in effect for the upcoming local elections, is available online from the city via www.vbgov.com/vb10, including a tool to look up which district a voter lives within using their address. Previous coverage of the federal lawsuit and district voting changes in Virginia Beach is available via this link.
© 2022 Pungo Publishing Co., LLC
Agreed on the topic of transparency and open discussion with ALL elected officials present. Also agree as to the negative impact on out of district and out of area money.
My struggle is with the credibility of some of those who agree with me on the above. “Their party” has embraced out of state money impacting local representatives at the federal level, meaningfully changing the outcome of elections and exacerbating social divisions, yet someone at the council level they have a different opinion. That smacks of pure hypocrisy to me, and I can only be suspicious of any mind that would allow such selective reasoning.