Historically, Virginia Beach’s local election system followed a hybrid model in which all seats were elected at-large, even those seats that had residency requirements, resulting in de facto racial exclusion from the political process and poor outcomes in certain neighborhoods. For decades, coalitions of minority residents lobbied for Virginia Beach to change the hybrid at-large election system, culminating in Holloway v. City of Virginia Beach, in which a federal court ruled that Virginia Beach’s system violated the Voting Rights Act. As a result, Virginia Beach adopted a new 10-1 single-member district system in 2022. 

In early 2023, the City of Virginia Beach asked UVA Karsh Institute of Democracy’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service to solicit residents’ feedback and carry out an independent review of election systems to inform Virginia Beach’s plan of action. This was a first-of-its-kind experiential undertaking, with widespread implications for voting rights and fair elections, issues of race and equity, and community engagement. Join this panel from the Weldon Cooper Center to hear more about their findings.

Hosted and produced by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service