Earlier this month, the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP announced its support for special elections for the House of Delegates this year, and since then, other organizations have joined the group. 

Last year, the Virginia House of Delegates elections were held in outdated districts due to a delay with the redistricting process because of the census. According to the Constitution of Virginia, legislative districts must be redrawn every 10 years in order for districts to properly represent the state as it changes. The districts that were used in the 2021 election were drawn in 2010, and since then, Virginia’s population has increased by more than half a million. Additionally, the population of individual counties has also shifted.

These changes mean that the current legislative districts do not represent the way Virginia looks today but instead how it looked in 2010. This is what prompted the Virginia NAACP to call for special elections this year in order to ensure that people across Virginia are properly represented. 

On Monday, the United Rural Democrats of Virginia joined the Virginia NAACP in calling for special elections.

In addition to the United Rural Democrats and NAACP, the League of Women Voters of Virginia, Loudoun for All, and Richmond for All have also joined together to call for special elections this year.

Those advocating for special elections insist that this is an issue of voting rights. Using outdated districts means that some people in Virginia remain underrepresented, especially those who live in communities that have grown in the past decade. If these special elections were held this year, that would be remedied. 

Opponents of special elections claim that holding House of Delegates elections three years in a row would place undue pressure on candidates and campaign staffers who are already overworked.

A decision on whether or not House of Delegates elections will take place this year is expected within the next two weeks. As a growing number of activists and organizations join the call for special elections, the case for holding these elections in the newly redrawn districts is rapidly strengthening.