Virginia Beach voting system remains in limbo after Senate rejection
Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach. (Photo by Markus Schmidt/Virginia Mercury)
For the second straight year, Virginia Beach's attempt to formalize its voting system in its city charter has hit a dead end in the state Senate.
House Bill 1687, which sought to officially establish the city's 10-1 voting system, failed to secure the required 27 affirmative votes in the Senate on Thursday — just as it did last year. The bill had previously made it to Gov. Glenn Youngkin's desk, but without final approval from the legislature, the effort remains stalled.
Two votes this week saw the same outcome: 21-18 against the proposal. The city council had opted not to amend Virginia Beach's charter to reflect the 10-1 system last year, prompting some lawmakers to take matters into their own hands. But Sen. Bill DeSteph, R-Virginia Beach, distanced himself from the push.
'Until our city council becomes unanimous on this, I would suggest that we vote no on this matter,' DeSteph said Thursday.
He pointed to a Jan. 30 memo from the Office of the Attorney General to Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer, which he said confirms the city is under no legal obligation to alter its voting system.
Instead of legislative action, DeSteph said the Attorney General's Office advised city leaders to focus on better engagement with Virginia Beach's diverse communities.
'Recognizing and treating people based on their individual experiences is the touchstone that should guide our political debates,' the memo states.
The debate took a turn when Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, questioned the memo — one he said he hadn't seen until Thursday.
'Over 81% of the people voted and supported the 10-1 system,' Rouse said, citing a survey by the Weldon Cooper Center at the University of Virginia.
'The attorney's general office, in (its) official capacity, pre-cleared this election system twice with no objection, and now, all of a sudden in an election year he has posted his own personal opinion to the mayor.'
Virginia Beach implemented the 10-1 system in November 2022 after a federal court ruled that the city's previous election structure violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by diluting minority voting power. The new system, which eliminated three at-large seats from the city council, became official in 2023 as part of redistricting.
However, the city council declined to request an amendment to its charter at the time, partly because of an ongoing lawsuit challenging the system. Gov. Glenn Youngkin, aware of the legal dispute, vetoed the proposal last year. While the Virginia Supreme Court assigned a judge to the case in September, no further action has been taken to date.
With the latest attempt to solidify the system in the city charter failing in the Senate once again, the future of Virginia Beach's voting structure remains uncertain — especially in a crucial election year.
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