Chesapeake NAACP urges city leaders to change election system
By John Hood,
2024-05-24
Members of the Chesapeake NAACP are looking to change the way city leaders are elected using the same system Virginia Beach recently changed to.
Chesapeake currently has an at-large system meaning anyone can vote for the city's eight council members and mayor to represent all 353 square miles of the city.
However, Dr. Shirley Auguste, with the Chesapeake NAACP, said she feels this leaves residents underrepresented.
John Hood
"It is an all people in Chesapeake, 255,173 people issue, so let's get represented," Auguste said.
Auguste and several city leaders would like to see this change to a single-member district voting system.
Under a single-member district voting system, one person would represent a certain area of the city and would be voted by the people who live in that district.
Auguste feels this would help better inform city leaders on issues city residents are facing.
"It's not possible for them to go from one area to the next, and it's not even realistic that they are going to know when a light is off in your street or there is something happening in your neighborhood," Auguste said.
With a population of more than 250,000 people, Chesapeake is the second-largest city in Virginia.
Out of that number, close to 30% is Black.
Currently, some city leaders feel with the number of elected positions, there's a population underrepresented.
"Twenty-three [positions] and you have one of me and that is disgraceful in 2024," Councilwoman, Dr. Ella Ward, said.
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Earlier this month, councilman Don Carey introduced a resolution to begin the process of putting a referendum on the November ballot, to ask residents if they would like to remain at large or if they would like it to go to a single member.
"I am simply trying to garnish information from our citizens, which every elected official should want to hear from citizens and how they feel about such an important matter as going from an at large to a single member holding district," Councilman Carey said.
John Hood
News 3 reached out to Chesapeake Mayor Rick West on the topic.
He said he feels right now he wants to see how residents respond before moving forward.
Carey said the resolution is set for a vote at the council's June 11 meeting.
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John Hood 
John Hood 
Local News
