Democrats in Virginia are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the state to use a congressional map that would give their party a big boost in the midterm elections this year.
The state attorney general and other officials urged the justices to overturn the decision from the Virginia Supreme Court, which found that the redistricting process violated the Virginia Constitution. It was first reported by The New York Times.
The referendum would redraw state congressional map lines to heavily favor Democrats in November. The constitutional amendment was backed by voters in the state in a special election earlier this year.
Democrats say that should the Supreme Court agree with Virginia’s state Supreme Court, voters and candidates in the state will be deprived of their lawfully created congressional districts.
State supreme courts typically have the final word when it comes to implementing a state’s constitution but Democrats are bringing the matter to the nation’s high court saying the state Supreme Court centers around a federal law question, what the definition is of “Election Day,” the Times noted.
The Virginia Supreme Court said that the amendment to the maps came too late because voters had already begun casting their ballots in the general election. Virginia Democrats argue that under federal law, “Election Day” means just the one single day when votes are counted, regardless of when they were sent into the local offices.
The Democrats’ move comes amid a tense arms race over redistricting is happening across the country. Both parties are seeking control of Congress, and the House of Representatives in particular. It was a rare mid-decade redistricting that kicked off last year with President Donald Trump telling Texas Republicans to redraw the state’s map to favor GOP candidates in November.
Additionally, it’s a matter that’s fresh before the U.S. Supreme Court justices.
Late last month, the justices issued a landmark ruling that Louisiana must redraw its congressional map because it included districts drawn based primarily on the race of voters, saying the state had unconstitutionally racially gerrymandered.
Almost immediately following the ruling, Tennessee lawmakers approved a new congressional map that eliminates the state’s only Democratic-majority seat.
Other states are also joining in. Florida Republicans passed a new map that would net four more GOP seats in Congress and other states are reviewing their processes.