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Virginia Beach — A court determined in March that the way Virginia Beach elects City Council leaders is illegal and discriminatory.
Now, the city is grappling with how to respond as a federal judge decides how to make the city’s voting system equitable.
On Tuesday, the City Attorney’s Office gave its first public presentation to the council about the complexities of the federal case, which immediately stopped Virginia Beach from using its current voting system that allows all residents to vote for every council candidate.
The city is appealing the ruling, but Christopher Boynton, a deputy city attorney for Virginia Beach, said city attorneys plan to see if an agreement can be reached with the plaintiffs on how to change the voting system.
He said the city will pause the appeal process until June 15, when the council is expected to formally vote on whether to direct city attorneys to continue with the settlement or the appeal.
The plaintiffs have told the city they would like to see 10 council representatives elected only by registered voters residing in each ward, and at least two of those districts would be drawn to help minority groups elect preferred candidates, Boynton said.
He also said the court will draw the maps of the districts. The Campaign Legal Center, the firm that is representing plaintiffs Latasha Holloway and Georgia Allen, did not respond to requests for comment. Holloway and Allen said they could not discuss the proposal.
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Council members, including Mayor Bobby Dyer, said they would like to proceed with negotiations to try to get a voting system that has seven wards, three super wards and one mayor, who would be elected at-large. This option would somewhat resemble what the city has already, but voters wouldn’t be able to elect candidates outside their districts.
“I think this plan is our only way to have any kind of control over our destiny,” Vice Mayor Jim Wood said. “My greatest concern is having the court draw maps that we have no input on.”
The city already has spent $1.4 million defending the federal lawsuit, and the judge ordered the city to pay litigation costs for the plaintiff, which have reached at least $3.88 million, Boynton said. He estimated that proceeding with the settlement route could save the city $2.3 million, plus additional costs to appeal.
The voting system will need to change by 2022 regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit, Boynton said, due to new laws that will force cities to abandon at-large election systems.
The city would like to negotiate an outcome from the lawsuit that would go no further than what the new state laws would already push them to do, which is only allow voters in Virginia Beach’s seven council districts to vote for candidates running in their specific ward, three at-large members and the mayor.
City staff plan to put together a public information campaign to inform the public about the impacts on the voting system. The council will solicit feedback from the public during meetings June 8 and June 15.
Alissa Skelton, 757-995-9043, alissa.skelton@pilotonline.com