Virginia Supreme Court clears way for early voting in redistricting referendum to begin Friday

On Friday, registrars across the Commonwealth of Virginia will begin administering early voting for an April 21 special election that asks citizens if they will support a partisan redrawing of Congressional boundaries for the next three elections for the House of Representatives.

On March 4, the Virginia Supreme Court denied a temporary restraining order sought by the Republican National Committee to stop the voting claiming among other things that the ballot question is inappropriate. A circuit court judge in Tazewell had granted the injunction through March 18.

“Issuing an injunction to keep Virginians from the polls is not the proper way to make this ruling,” reads the document.

In the ruling, the Virginia Supreme Court agreed to hear the merits of the case, but allowed early voting to take place. They cite the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling of Marbury v. Madison that upheld the principle that the judicial system has the power to strike down laws deemed unconstitutional.

“This axiom is a meta principle that governs not only what courts say the law is but also how it should be enforced,” reads the ruling. “This may seem like a semantic nuance, but it is nothing of the kind. The power to declare the law and the power to enforce it are different foundational pillars in the architecture of judicial power.”

This latest ruling also cites the 1912 Virginia Supreme Court ruling in Scott v. James that established a precedent of allowing the process of amending the Virginia Constitution to take place through elections even if there are legal challenges.

The Virginia Supreme Court has already allowed the election to move forward after overruling Tazewell County Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr.’s first granting of a temporary injunction. A hearing will be held, but the final briefs in the case are due on April 23, two days after the election.

“If the electorate rejects the proposed amendment, any pending legal proceedings will be dismissed as moot,” reads the latest ruling. “If the electorate approves the proposed amendment, we then must exercise our constitutional duty to review lower courts’ declaratory judgments before us on appeal and address de novo what equitable remedies, if any, are appropriate.”

The fifth page of the ruling states the legal arguments pending in Scott v McDougle and incorporates those in Koski v. Republican National Committee.

This morning, Governor Abigail Spanberger released a statement calling on Virginians to vote and said she would be voting yes due to actions taken in other states such as Texas in response to demands from Republican President Donald Trump to redraw maps.

“As early voting begins tomorrow on Virginia’s redistricting amendment, voters should know that Virginia’s approach is different,” Spanberger wrote. “It is temporary, directly responsive to what other states decide to do, and — most importantly, it preserves Virginia’s bipartisan redistricting process for the future.”

The current Congressional boundaries were drawn up by two “special masters” appointed by the Virginia Supreme Court in 2021 after a 16-member bi-partisan commission failed to reach consensus. The new maps were approved in December of that year.

If approved, the proposed 2026 Constitutional amendment would return the power to redraw maps back to the Virginia Redistricting Commission after three cycles of maps drawn to highly guarantee the election of ten Democrats and only one Republican.

Spanberger said she supported the formation of Virginia’s bipartisan redistricting commission in 2020 and wants it to be restored in 2030.

“What has changed is what we’re seeing in states across the country — and a President who says he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats before this year’s midterm elections,” Spanberger wrote.

Several localities across the Commonwealth have adopted resolutions encouraging people to vote against the amendment. The Louisa Board of Supervisors was set to take action on Monday urging people to vote no.

If the redistricting is approved and passes Constitutional muster, Louisa County would be place in a district in a new 7th District that would stretch up into northern Virginia with portions of Arlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, and Prince William counties.

“Louisa has little in common with some of these localities in the proposed 7th congressional district, district is neither as compact nor contiguous as the current 5th congressional district and the county questions the fairness of the measure to our citizens,” said County Administrator Christian Goodwin reading from the resolution.

Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams said he did not think the elected body should take a position on how people should vote.

“There are people that feel like we should do this, and there are people that feel like this is wrong,” Williams said. “And it is not this Board’s place to tell you whether you should support it or you should be against it. It is this board’s place to say you should be aware of it and you should go out and you should vote according to how you feel and what it is, because that’s what democracy is.”

Williams made a motion to amend the language accordingly and that was adopted 6 to 1.

This morning, Albemarle County sent out a notice related to the special election with instructions for early voting.

“Any voter registered in Albemarle County may vote early in person in Conference Room B at the County Office Building on 5th Street,” reads the email.

Voters are also asked to take note of construction underway of a roundabout at the intersection of Route 780, Route 631, and 5th Street Extended just outside the county office building. That is one of five projects under what is known as Intersection Design-Build 2 and you can learn more here.

Before you go: This particular story comes from the March 5, 2026 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. This was not posted here until April 14, 2026 during an audit of stories to see if there were any that had not been posted here. Town Crier Productions is a one person operation and sometimes things do not happen as timely as they should. Management, which is also labor, is working on the situation.