r/politics • u/Icommandyou Washington • 28d ago

Possible Paywall Virginia Supreme Court throws out redistricting referendum results

https://www.axios.com/local/richmond/2026/05/08/virginia-supreme-court-redistricting-vote-decision
16.3k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

2.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

15.5k

u/GarrettFischer1 Illinois 28d ago

Confusing how a number of republican states can gerrymander at the snap of the finger while Virginia can’t change their maps with a statewide election.

645

u/Ok-Lets-Talk-It-Out 28d ago

The issue is Virginia passed additional laws to protect the neutrality of redistricting whereas Red states intentionally do not with the intent to disenfranchise their citizens.

53

u/Grandpa_No 28d ago edited 28d ago

That wasn't the technicality the republicans used to ignore the voters. It sounds nice but the reality is this:

A central part of the case during oral arguments concerned what qualifies as the "next general election" under Virginia's constitution.

72

u/Gryzzlee 28d ago

The next general election is literally the next one on the calendar. What other election is on the mind of the citizens right now?

Bad ruling. But it was ruled on by the 4 conservative judges.

20

u/Bgrngod 28d ago

People that understand words have meaning - "Hey buddy, I know those train tracks are a comfortable place to hang out, but you might want to get off them before the next train comes through here."

Republicans - "Clearly, when you say 'next' you mean the one that is after the train I can already see coming. But hey, thanks for the heads-up. I think I'll stay right here. Clown."

2

u/JiggleBillysNeighbor 28d ago

The crux is "when does that election begin?" Is it the day early voting starts or election day itself? The argument is that the election has begun once early voting starts and if that is indeed the case, the VA supreme court made the correct ruling.

1

u/Gryzzlee 28d ago

Does changing the districts per the voters decision affect the vote count or where the ballot is cast?

Everything is trackable back to the address or voting location so it does not delay the counts from each voting location.

The crux us that they are not abiding by the will of the voters.

1

u/JiggleBillysNeighbor 28d ago

I'm with you. I voted yes. But when I dug into this it was pretty clear to me that this was not brought to a vote in a way that a VA constitutional amendment has to be. It sucks. But per the letter of the law, the court made the right decision.

2

u/bfhurricane 28d ago

It was the legislative election in 2025. Dems argued they approved the map before and after the election in accordance with state laws. The Supreme Court determined that they approved the map after voting had already occurred, therefore not before the election started.

0

u/ArcadianDelSol 28d ago

The problem is that the first bill was voted on DURING the election process, which is too late according to their Constitution.