Our local election structure matters, and there is a choice to be made on which structure to use to elect City councilmembers. 

The following question will be on the Nov. 4 ballot:

Should the method of city council elections set forth in the Virginia Beach City Charter be changed from a modified 7-3-1 system to a 10-1 system?

• A “yes” vote means that you support the 10-1 system, which was used in the 2022 and 2024 city council elections. In the 10-1 system, the city is divided into 10 districts, and the voters of each district elect a single council member with the mayor elected at-large (city-wide).
• A “no” vote means you support the 7-3-1 system described in the current city charter as modified by a general law change that occurred in 2021. In the modified 7-3-1 system, the city is divided into 7 districts, and the voters of each district elect a single council member, with three other council members and the mayor elected at-large (city-wide).

Explanation of the Proposed Referendum Question

The proposed referendum question asks whether the public wishes to request the General Assembly amend the City Charter to reflect the 10-1 election system used in the 2022 and 2024 elections (yes) or to retain the 7-3-1 system stated in the Charter as amended by general law in 2021 (no).

For background, Section 3.01 of the City Charter states that the city council “shall consist of eleven members, including the mayor, one member to be elected by the city at large from the residents of each of the seven districts and three members and the mayor to be elected by and from the city at large.” 

In 2021, a general law was adopted stating that where a city imposes district-based residency requirements for members of a city council, the member elected from each district shall be elected solely by the qualified voters of that district, rather than by the locality at-large. Consequently, representatives of the seven districts referenced in the City Charter would be elected only by voters living in those districts, rather than at-large (city-wide). 

This is known as the modified 7-3-1 system, referring to 7 district representatives, 3 at-large representatives, and 1 mayor. Although the all at-large 7-3-1 system described in the Charter was used for many years, because of the events described below, no election has been held under the modified 7-3-1 system.

In March 2021, a federal court ruled that the all at-large election system in the City Charter (prior to the 2021 general law change) diluted the voting power of a coalition of minority voters in violation of federal law. In December 2021, that court imposed a voting system consisting of 10 districts, each represented by a council member elected by the voters of that district, plus a mayor elected at-large (“the 10-1 system”).

The federal court order imposing the 10-1 system was vacated in July 2022 because of the 2021 general law change. However, it was too late to change the election system for the 2022 election, and that election used the 10-1 system.

In 2023, to comply with a state law that requires each city to adopt an ordinance establishing its election districts once every decade based on decennial census data, the City hired the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center to facilitate a public engagement program and conduct a statistically valid public opinion survey regarding the election system. 

Based on the Cooper Center’s findings, in August 2023, the City Council adopted a redistricting ordinance implementing the 10-1 system and that system was used again in the 2024 election. The City Council requested the General Assembly amend the Charter to reflect the 10-1 system in its 2024 session; however, this amendment was vetoed by Governor Youngkin.

The purpose of this proposed referendum question is to address the conflict between the Charter and the City’s redistricting ordinance. A “Yes” vote would re-submit the 10-1 Charter amendment to the General Assembly. A “No” vote would indicate a desire to use the modified 7-3-1 system in future elections. City Council voted on May 6 to move forward with adding this drafted question to the November 2025 ballot.