Until her effort to gerrymander her state by violating Virginia’s constitution plays out in court, Democrat Governor Abigail Spanberger plans to use the current map of districts when early voting begins this year. Spanberger’s voter-passed initiative was set to boost Democrats’ advantage in the U.S. Congress from 6-5 to 10-1, but the Virginia Supreme Court ruled her methods violated the state’s constitution. The governor has now asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up her appeal on an emergency basis – which is unlikely, given that the nation’s high court defers to state supreme courts in matters regarding state constitutions. Local Virginia station WTOP reported Spanberger’s concession, citing its interview with the governor: “Days after Virginia Democrats filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court as part of their ongoing redistricting battle, Gov. Abigail Spanberger said she’s focused on the fall midterm elections and ensuring voters are motivated to turn out.” …. “Spanberger called the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court ‘important, but when it comes to the execution of elections, no matter the outcome in that case, we will be running our elections beginning next month with early voting on the current maps that we have.’” "We hold that the legislative process employed to advance this proposal violated Article XII, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia," the Virginia Supreme Court explains in its 4-3 ruling striking down the gerrymandering referendum. "This constitutional violation incurably taints the resulting referendum vote and nullifies its legal efficacy." "This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void," the court said in its opinion. The court found that the legislature failed to comply with procedural rules for passing a constitutional amendment, including failing to publish the amendment three months before the election and taking a second vote while early voting was already occurring, rather than waiting for an intervening election.