Victory! Voters in Virginia Beach Secure Fair Election System After Years-Long Battle

After years of litigation, decades of community advocacy and a sustained effort by the community’s Black, Latino and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, Virginia Beach, Virginia, is officially set to conduct all future City Council elections using a “10-1” election system that ensures all voters in the city will have an equal voice in local elections.

With this election system in place, Virginia Beach’s voters will continue to have the ability to meaningfully make their voices heard in local elections.

rom 1966 until 2021, the city of Virginia Beach used an at-large method of elections to elect its City Council. Voting in Virginia Beach is racially polarized — white voters as a group tend to prefer different candidates than Black, Latino and AAPI voters.

As a result, the at-large method of election regularly functioned to deprive Black, Latino and AAPI voters of the opportunity to elect their preferred candidates to any of the 11 seats on the City Council. For decades, this underrepresented segment of the community advocated for the city to change to a district-based system of election.



https://campaignlegal.org/update/victory-voters-virginia-beach-secure-fair-election-system-after-years-long-battle