Summary

In January 2024, a lawsuit was filed by former Councilmember Linwood Branch and other plaintiffs challenging the City’s utilization of a 10-1 single-member election district system for City Council elections in November 2022, November 2024, and beyond.

The Plaintiffs’ Argument

The suit alleges that the City was obligated to follow the City Charter and conduct the November 2022 and future elections using the seven single-member districts, three at-large districts, and an at-large mayor, sometimes referred to as the 7-3-1 hybrid system set forth in the City Charter, rather than the 10 single-member districts and at-large mayor system required by a federal court for the November 2022 elections and later adopted by City Council for the November 2024 and future elections.

Notably absent from the plaintiffs’ Complaint is any mention of whether the election system provided in the City Charter complies with the Virginia Voting Rights Act or the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. An earlier case brought in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia had resulted in that court finding a prior iteration of the City Charter system violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and determining that a 10-1 single member district system which created three minority opportunity districts was required to cure the VRA violation. This ruling was later vacated on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on mootness grounds based upon the Virginia General Assembly’s adoption of HB 2198 during its 2021 session modifying the City Charter system prior to the U.S. District Court’s ruling.

The City’s Position

The City maintains that the 10-1 system is legally compelled by provisions of the Virginia Voting Rights Act. Further, while the City Charter provides for a 7-3-1 hybrid system, those provisions must be interpreted in conjunction with the General Assembly’s other laws which allow a locality to add or subtract districts as part of a decennial redistricting measure and which provide that if there is any conflict between a decennial redistricting measure and a City Charter, the decennial redistricting measure controls.

The November 2024 Elections

The November 2024 City Council and School Board elections will utilize the 10-1 single member district system. That system was adopted by City Council in August 2023 after the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center conducted a statistically validated citizen survey and determined that it was supported by 81% of Virginia Beach residents and was the only viable system to comply with federal and state legal requirements including the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Virginia Voting Rights Act. The system and the district maps are the same as previously ordered by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia for use in the November 2022 election.

The 10-1 single-member district system remains in place for the November 2024 election following a judge’s denial of the Branch plaintiffs’ request for a temporary injunction to prevent the use of that system. The judge also dismissed the Branch plaintiffs’ challenge to the November 2022 election, which utilized the 10-1 single member district system. The remaining portion of the Branch case is expected to be tried in Spring, 2025.