Virginians voted Tuesday in favor of a constitutional amendment that would redraw the state’s congressional districts to favor Democrats. But the Supreme Court of Virginia will hear oral arguments in a case that could overturn that election Monday.
For former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, Monday’s oral arguments in a lawsuit against Democrats’ redistricting effort will focus on one big issue.
“When they passed the amendment for the first time, 6 weeks into the election, after over a million people had voted,” Cuccinelli told Radio IQ ahead of Monday’s hearing. “And they want the court to declare the election simply when the votes are counted instead of when the votes are cast.”
Now the chairman of the conservative Election Transparency Initiative, Cuccinelli said the timing is a problem because the Virginia constitution requires an intervening election to have occurred. In his eyes, the ongoing nature of the election makes the first passage of the amendment by the general assembly, less than a week before election day 2025, a violation of state law.
But Democratic Majority Leader Scott Surovell, among the loudest advocates for redistricting, disagrees.
“Virginia has been doing early voting since World War 1, it was enacted so WW1 soldiers could vote,” Surovell said. “What election means in code and in the constitution has been consistent for years: it’s the last day of the election; it's not the entire period that voting’s been going on.”
In legal briefs filed before the Supreme Court of Virginia, Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones argued similarly, quote:
“Statutes governing absentee voting (which includes early voting) regulate how ballots are cast, not when the constitutional election occurs. Those votes do not count—and are not tallied or reported—until Election Day.”
Surovell doesn’t think the court will side with Republicans in the dispute, though Cuccinelli does.
But is the former AG worried about how voters who supported the amendment would react if a Republican-led lawsuit overturns their vote?
“The brazenness with which it was done will draw the attention of people who complain about it properly to the source and that is the Democrat general assembly,” Cuccinelli said.
Oral arguments in the dispute start Monday at 9 AM.
