The Virginia Beach City Council voted to let the people decide how they want to vote in city elections.
On Tuesday night, council approved a resolution in a 7-4 split that would add a referendum on the city’s voting system to November’s ballot.
The referendum will ask residents if they want the General Assembly to change the city’s charter to include the system that’s been used the past two cycles: a 10-1 system with district elections for council seats and one at-large election for mayor, or a modified 7-3-1 system with seven district elections, three at-large council seats and the mayor.
The voting system has been contentious for years — even decades, as Councilmember Jennifer Rouse said during the meeting — resulting in lawsuits.
A 2017 lawsuit changing the system to 10-1 was “the culmination of decades of effort of African Americans to fight the legal system in Virginia Beach,” she said.
In Holloway v. City of Virginia Beach, a federal court found the city’s previous system, a version of 7-3-1, violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act by diluting the minority vote.
“Which is how race became a part of this,” she said.
Rouse has been one of the most vocal opponents of the referendum and in favor of the 10-1 system. While she said she “broadly supports” referendums, she is concerned the vote in November will be pointless because courts have struck down a version of the 7-3-1 system before; and the General Assembly hasn’t supported the 10-1 system and doesn’t have to follow the referendum vote.
The federal court ordered the city to establish the 10-1 system before the 2022 elections and it was used again in 2024. Supporters say it resulted in a more ethnically and racially diverse council, gave them a direct line to their representatives and allowed smaller, more grassroots campaigns to prevail.
A 2023 University of Virginia Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service survey shows that 81% of residents favored the 10-1 system.
However, bills in the General Assembly to amend the city charter failed two years in a row, vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Of Tuesday night’s 14 speakers, all but one opposed the referendum.
“To bring back the old system is just a step backwards,” Susan Loesberg said. “It’s telling people that their voices only counted for a moment, that their representation was temporary.”
John Zirkle, speaking in support of the referendum, said, “I’d feel much better represented if I had three at-large seats to help represent me and my district.”
Councilmembers Worth Remick, David Hutcheson and Joash Schulman voted with Rouse.
Councilmembers Michael Berlucchi, Barbara Henley, Rosemary Wilson, Amelia Ross-Hammond, Stacy Cummings, Cal Jackson-Green and Mayor Bobby Dyer voted in favor of the referendum.
Dyer said a modified 7-3-1 system could be a compromise. The old system had citywide elections for all council seats and the mayor. A modified version would combine district and at-large elections.
“I will comply with the results of the referendum,” Dyer said.
The city will prepare an education campaign to inform residents about the issue.
