NORFOLK, Va. — One of the fliers circulating ahead of Virginia's redistricting referendum shows Gov. Abigail Spanberger and encourages people to vote no — even though she supports the effort.
The flier identifies the Justice for Democracy Political Action Committee as the group that paid for it. That same group mailed out another flier that equates redistricting to the Jim Crow era. Former Republican Delegate A.C. Cordoza is the group's chairman.
Gaylene Kanoyton, the president of the NAACP Hampton Branch, says voters may need additional information when receiving these materials.
"Do your research. Ask a trusted messenger. That's what you need to do," Kanoyton said.
In the Shenandoah Valley, Democrats paid to put up a billboard in Page County that shows President Trump and tells people to vote yes on redistricting — even though Republicans in Virginia are generally against the effort.
Former Republican State Delegate and attorney Tim Anderson has threatened to get involved and try and get the billboard taken down. He believes an argument could be made that this type of communication is a form of election interference and also thinks that the fliers are deceptive.
"That kind of deceptive and trickery is just completely disgusting," Anderson said.
"I mean, why can't we just flat out put it out there for voters, rather than trying to trick people by getting people's images and likenesses and trying to make people think that one side wants something when they clearly don't. Don't like it. It's gross politics, and I think it's actionable to stop on both sides," Anderson said.
News 3 also checked in with Dr. Jesse Richman, a political science professor at Old Dominion University. He says the main rule regarding these types of communications is that it must be disclosed who paid for them — which in each of these instances was done.
"Virginia has a relatively permissive campaign finance regime. It emphasizes disclosure, so advertisers do need to say who's paying for it. Beyond that, though, it's pretty wide open," Richman said.
With control of Congress potentially at stake in the redistricting referendum, these types of communications will likely continue through the election on April 21st.
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