{"id":2600648,"date":"2026-05-09T06:25:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T10:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/virginias-pro-gerrymander-dems-argued-election-is-single-day-after-forcing-45-day-vote\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T06:26:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T10:26:58","slug":"virginias-pro-gerrymander-dems-argued-election-is-single-day-after-forcing-45-day-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/virginias-pro-gerrymander-dems-argued-election-is-single-day-after-forcing-45-day-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"VA&#8217;s Dems Argued Election Is Single Day After Forcing 45-Day Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fvirginias-pro-gerrymander-dems-argued-election-is-single-day-after-forcing-45-day-vote%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2600648&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Virginia Democrats took a major hit after Virginia\u2019s Supreme Court rejected their attempt to treat \u201celection\u201d as only one day for purposes of a partisan gerrymandering challenge. The court said the argument didn\u2019t match how the term has long been understood: \u201celection\u201d refers broadly to the act of choosing and includes the full process involving both voters and election officials.<\/p>\n<p>The dispute centered on Democrats\u2019 approach to Virginia\u2019s election structure, where voting was expanded by law into a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/redistricting-court-battles-where-things-stand\/\" title=\"Redistricting court battles: Where things stand\">45-day early voting period<\/a>. Democrats had relied on the idea that, for gerrymandering calculations, the relevant \u201celection\u201d was only Election Day, even though voters had already been casting ballots for weeks before that day arrived.The court found that reasoning incompatible with the constitutional referendum process, noting that the referendum should have been considered considering the realities of when voters were actually able to vote.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling also emphasized that if an election spans multiple days, then that extended period constitutes the election; Election Day is simply the endpoint. In doing so, the court declined to judge whether a multi-day election is better than a one-day election, but stressed that \u201cElection Day\u201d functions as the boundary for when the election\u2019s final acts occur.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Virginia Democrats suffered a major loss Friday after the commonwealth\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/08\/virginia-supreme-court-strikes-down-democrat-gerrymander\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Supreme Court overturned its attempt at an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/north-carolina-adopts-new-congressional-map-that-bolsters-republicans\/\" title=\"North Carolina Adopts New Congressional Map That Bolsters Republicans\">extreme partisan gerrymander<\/a><\/a>. But the case itself saw Democrats conveniently argue that the \u201celection\u201d is a single day for purposes of gerrymandering, but in all other cases, it is 45 days long.<\/p>\n<p>In 2020, Democrats <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elections.virginia.gov\/media\/electionadministration\/electionlaw\/2020-Changes-to-Virginia-Election-Laws.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">forced through changes<\/a> to the way Virginia conducts elections, turning the normal \u201cElection Day\u201d into a 45-day voting extravaganza. Because they instituted that 45-day voting period and then tried to sneak the referendum onto the ballot after more than a million Virginians had already cast ballots 42 days into the 2025 election, Democrats were forced to defend the referendum by claiming that the \u201celection\u201d is only one day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore evaluating the exegesis of the term \u2018election\u2019 by legal scholars and courts, it is worth observing that the Commonwealth\u2019s view would be unrecognizable to the average citizen,\u201d the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vacourts.gov\/static\/opinions\/opnscvwp\/1260127.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Supreme Court\u2019s majority opinion<\/a> said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImagine one of the over one million Virginians who had voted in person before Election Day in 2025 walking into a polling place,\u201d it continued, pointing out the absurdity in the Democrats\u2019 position. \u201cThe voter says to the officer of election, \u2018I am here to vote in the election.\u2019 The officer of election responds, \u2018we are not conducting an election here.\u2019 \u2018But that\u2019s why I am here,\u2019 the voter replies. \u2018Maybe so, but let me explain,\u2019 the officer of election insists, \u2018you can vote in the election, but we are not conducting an election today. Elections are only conducted on Election Day.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLegal scholars and courts would have the same bewildered reaction as the hypothetical average citizen,\u201d the court said. \u201cThe definition of \u2018election\u2019 has always broadly denoted the \u2018act of choosing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2025, Democrats waited until the 42nd day of early voting to ram through the proposed referendum, which would have disenfranchised nearly half of Virginia\u2019s voters. In Virginia, the constitutional process for a referendum requires that two separate legislative sessions pass the referendum, with an intervening election allowing voters to have an \u201cindirect\u201d say in the referendum. If the subsequent legislative session passes it, then it goes to a \u201cdirect\u201d vote.<\/p>\n<p>By the time Democrats got around to offering the referendum for first passage, 1.3 million voters had already cast ballots. In the Democrat framework, they had set up a scenario where \u201cearly Virginia voters unknowingly forfeited their constitutionally protected opportunity to vote for or against delegates who favor or disfavor amending the Constitution by not anticipating a legislative vote on a constitutional amendment four days before the last day of voting,\u201d the high court said.<\/p>\n<p>In rejecting that argument \u2014 that the election is \u201cElection Day\u201d this time, but in all other instances it is the 45-day course of voting \u2014 the Supreme Court was forced to explain to Democrats what an \u201celection\u201d actually is.<\/p>\n<p>Early voting disenfranchises many voters who have voted without the full breadth of knowledge about what they are voting for. That was the case with this very referendum, and it may have played out poorly for the election prospects of now-Gov. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., had Democrats not waited until 1.3 million votes were cast before shoving the referendum through. In what is perhaps a starker example of how <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >early voting distorts election results<\/a>, more than 360,000 Virginians <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vpap.org\/elections\/early-voting\/2025-november-general-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cast ballots<\/a> before <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/10\/03\/virginia-dem-ag-candidate-fantasized-about-assassinating-republican-wished-death-on-his-kids\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">news broke<\/a> about now-Attorney General Jay Jones, D-Va., fantasizing about murdering Republican colleagues and their children.<\/p>\n<p>The court did not make any judgments as to whether a 45-day election or a single-day election is preferable, but rather noted that if an election is going to span 45 days, all days are included in the election, and \u201cElection Day\u201d is therefore the endpoint of the election.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe near universal definition of \u2018election day\u2019 is a \u2018single day established by law for voters to cast ballots by presenting themselves in person at a voting precinct,\u2019\u201d the opinion stated, differentiating it from an \u201celection\u201d generally. \u201cThe semantic differences between these terms have a rich provenance. Beginning in colonial days, it was common in Virginia and other colonies for elections to last for days as election officials (usually sheriffs) canvassed the countryside to collect votes during elections.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the law speaks of an \u2018election,\u2019 it \u2018plainly refer[s] to the combined actions of voters and officials meant to make a final selection of an officeholder,\u2019\u201d the majority continued. \u201cThe definition is short and clear: \u2018History confirms that \u201celection\u201d includes both ballot casting and ballot receipt.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, if voting is going to last days, \u201cThe metes and bounds of an election begin with the point of casting votes and end with the point of receiving votes and closing the polls on the last day of the election. Election Day is the boundary marker for the last act constituting an election.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Breccan F. Thies is the White House correspondent for The Federalist. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. As an investigative journalist, he previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Virginia Democrats lost Friday after the court struck their gerrymander<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2600649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-08-165559.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[32923,6571,5468,32570],"class_list":["post-2600648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-democratic-party","tag-elections","tag-virginia","tag-voting-rights"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-08-165559.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2600648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2600648"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2600648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2600652,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2600648\/revisions\/2600652"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2600649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2600648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2600648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2600648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}