A Million Votes Too Late: Ken Cuccinelli Dissects Virginia Redistricting Ruling

Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says a recent state court ruling blocking Democrats’ attempt to advance a gerrymandered redistricting plan is firmly rooted in Virginia law and could ultimately be upheld on appeal.

Following the inauguration of Gov. Abigail Spanberger this month, Democrats are now firmly in control of Virginia government and seeking to add four Democrat seats ahead of this year’s midterm elections. 

Speaking with The Daily Signal’s Joe Thomas, Cuccinelli said the judge found the amendment process violated Virginia law on three independent grounds: notice requirements, election timing, and constitutional limits on special legislative sessions.

“The judge ruled on three separate, independent bases that the way the Democrats have gone about advancing their redistricting constitutional amendment violates Virginia law,” Cuccinelli said.

Early Voting Complicates Case

One of the central issues, he explained, was timing. Virginia law requires that constitutional amendments be approved before an intervening election. Lawmakers, however, approved the redistricting amendment in late October—after early voting had already begun.

“That election could not count as an intervening election because a million people had already voted,” Cuccinelli said. “The passage in late October was in the middle of an election, not prior to an intervening election.”

Cuccinelli also criticized the General Assembly’s use of a special legislative session, which he said was convened for budgetary purposes—not constitutional amendments. Allowing lawmakers to expand the scope of a special session without a two-thirds vote, he warned, would erode an important procedural safeguard.

“The majority could trick the minority into coming into session and then pass whatever they want by majority,” he said.

When Is an Election Over?

Addressing claims that an election occurs only on Election Day, Cuccinelli rejected that interpretation as inconsistent with long-standing federal precedent.

“The U.S. Supreme Court said, ‘No—an election is the whole process of the election. It isn’t just the last day,’” he said. “We don’t have an Election Day in Virginia anymore. We have an election season.”

Cuccinelli noted what he called an irony in the case: expanded early voting, enacted when Democrats controlled state government, now complicates their legal position.

“Now it’s going to come back and haunt them a bit,” he said.

The case now heads to the Virginia Supreme Court as redistricting disputes continue to unfold nationwide, with courts to weigh in on challenges involving election law and constitutional authority.

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