VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Editor's Note: The above video originally aired June 3, 2021.
A U.S. district judge involved with a civil lawsuit asking Virginia Beach to rework its municipal voting system approved a plan on Wednesday to move some voters to new districts.
The case goes back to when two city residents asked a federal court to look over Virginia Beach's "at large" voting system. The court ruled in favor of the residents and said the city will have to change how it organizes elections.
In March, the judge determined the voting system violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
Wednesday's order has to do with the solution to that problem.
The judge accepted a "Supplemental Memo of the Special Master" written by Bernard Grofman. He's a professor of political science and wrote these recommendations after reviewing other, allegedly inadequate, remedies that were submitted to the court by the plaintiffs and the defense.
Here are some of the changes listed in Grofman's accepted plan:
- 1,918 people sent from New Wolfsnare precinct to District 6
- 710 people moved from New Bayside precinct to District 4
- 1,067 people moved from New Avalon precinct to District 7
- 851 people moved from New Pinewood precinct to District 8
- 973 people moved from Changed Aragona precinct to District 4
The city of Virginia Beach was ordered to adopt the plan right away.
You can see the maps in the PDF below.
The document also goes into detail about what percentage of each Virginia Beach voting district identifies as each demographic group.
Judge Raymond Jackson wrote that the proposed plan would be an appropriate remedy to Virginia Beach's Voting Rights Act problems.
You can read Jackson's overview of the order below.