Hours of public comment at Virginia Beach City Council focused on proposed referendum on election method

Dozens of residents spoke at a public hearing before the Virginia Beach City Council on a proposed referendum about the city’s method of election, debating whether to keep the 10‑1 single‑member district system or revert to a modified 7‑3‑1 structure.

The hearing drew long, sometimes emotional testimony from residents across the city and representatives of civic groups. Janet Burns, a District 4 resident, urged the council to “think about the choice” and keep the 10‑1 system, saying a referendum would waste taxpayer dollars and risk disenfranchising residents. Mike Hashimi criticized efforts to revisit the issue as an attempt to roll back civil voting rights and said residents were “breaking the fever” of misinformation about elections. Eric Majette, president of the Virginia Beach NAACP, told the council the 10‑1 system has produced a more diverse and representative council and urged the city not to reopen the issue.

Why it mattered: speakers repeatedly referenced the 2023 Weldon Cooper Center (University of Virginia) study, which they said found roughly 81% of survey respondents preferred the 10‑1 method. Several speakers — including Suzanne Richmond, Trevina…