Although the recent passing of lauded Virginia State Sen. Emily Couric happened less than a week ago, the process of filling her empty Senate seat has started, though not without debate.
The Virginia state registrar has mandated that a special election to fill Couric's seat will be held before the Virginia General Assembly convenes in January.
"Because the General Assembly is in session, the Republican president pro tempore, Sen. John Chichester, will choose the date of the special election," said Larry J. Sabato, government and foreign affairs professor.
The state registrar has mandated that those voting in the special election to fill Couric's seat will vote based on newly drawn districts.
However, some officials said they believe the proposed special election poses a constitutional problem.
"We have a problem," Van Yahres said. "The state registrar said the election will be held in the new district. Some of us feel this is unconstitutional."
Van Yahres said that voters who cast their vote for Couric and are no longer in the same district should have the right to vote in the special election because it concerns the senatorial term they originally voted in. After redistricting processes, some may be excluded from the special election.
That is, some voters who voted for Couric won't be represented for two years if the election takes place in the new district, Van Yahres said.
The Republican General Assembly redrew district lines based on the 2000 census statistics.
From 1990 to 2000 the state saw an 11.5 percent increase in population and needed to change the lines according to an increased or decreased population.
The next Senate election is scheduled for 2003.
Van Yahres later recognized that the "State code says that it has to go to the new district," requiring a vote by a different electorate than the one which elected Couric.
Despite the question of the special election's constitutionality, "whether or not it will be challenged seems unlikely until after the election," Van Yahres said.
Both Van Yahres and Sabato agreed that the new district is likely to be more Democratic than it was before the new district was drawn. Couric won as a Democrat and it can be presumed that local voters would elect another Democrat.
Couric was elected to the Virginia Senate in 1996. She was running for Virginia's lieutenant governor seat before she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2000.
Neither Sabato nor Van Yahres said they knew of any candidates that have announced their intention to run for Couric's senate seat.
"There has been tremendous speculation, but out of respect for Emily Couric they are holding off," Sabato said.
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