RICHMOND, Va. — As early voting surpasses the halfway mark for Virginia's referendum on redrawing congressional districts, groups on both sides of the issue are trading accusations of misleading voters.
Voters are being asked to temporarily suspend a voter-approved bipartisan redistricting commission which drew the current maps that favor Democrats 6-5 and replace it with a map that favors Democrats 10-1.
The commission would resume its work after the 2030 census.
On Wednesday, the NAACP Virginia State Conference held a press conference to criticize flyers sent to voters by a political action committee opposed to the referendum.
"On this April Fool's Day, don't be fooled into voting no," said Political Action Chair Gaylene Kanoyton.
"Let us stand united against the disinformation that seeks to mislead and divide us," added President Rev. Cozy Bailey.
The flyers, from the Justice for Democracy PAC, feature former President Barack Obama and Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger and quotes past comments both made against gerrymandering and tell voters to vote "no" on the referendum.
However, both have released ads saying they support the current redistricting effort and are encouraging people to vote "yes."
NAACP leadership said the quotes against gerrymandering are from as far back as 2019 and are misleading. They add other quotes, taken from those ads in support of the referendum, are shortened and lack important context.
"For too long, gerrymandering had contributed to start progress and work with our representation in government. That was that. So this has been misconstrued. This is not pertaining to this unusual, unprecedented times that we are in right now," Kanoyton said.
The group said Virginia is responding to Republican-led states doing the same thing after being asked to do so by President Donald Trump.
"We believe that this referendum is essential for creating a fair and equitable electoral process that truly represents the diverse voices of our communities," Bailey said.
They also criticized an earlier flyer from the PAC that featured photos from the Civil Rights era.
"The images that you are you are seeing on these false mailers and some that are appearing online evoke memories of a time that create anxiety, especially here to the African American population in the Commonwealth of Virginia," said Bailey.
But A.C. Cordoza, a former member of the House of Delegates and current chair of the PAC behind the flyers, stood by the messaging. He said the group is not making up quotes from either person and includes the dates they were said.
"For the NAACP to pretend that this is somehow misinformation is highly disingenuous," Cordoza said.
"Their ideals were, 'Gerrymandering is bad.' And now all of a sudden it's like, 'Oh, but temporarily, it's okay to just completely disregard our ideals.' No, we're reminding the voters on what these people's ideals are," Cordoza said. "We're telling the voters your ideals. We get to do that. We get to tell the voters what you stand for and encourage them to support what you stand for, not what you're saying right now, what you stand for. You stand against gerrymandering. We're encouraging them to stand against gerrymandering with you."
Cordoza leveled his own accusation of misleading messaging at supporters of the referendum over the ballot question's language, which asks voters to "temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness."
"What is super hilarious is temporary fairness. If this is fair, fairness should never be temporary. This, this entire thing is ridiculous," Cordoza said.
The use of Obama and Spanberger is not the first example of disputed messaging in this race. In February, the Page County Democrat Committee put up a billboard quoting Trump saying "take over the voting," followed by a message urging people to vote yes.
In a letter written to an online outlet, Page Valley News, the group's treasurer said claims the billboard is "misleading and illegal" are baseless. He said the Trump quote and statement encouraging people to vote yes were separate items and that thinking it implies Trump supports the referendum is a matter of interpretation, not fact.
According to the Virginia Public Access Project, more than 594,000 Virginians cast an early vote as of March 31. Election day is April 21.
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