RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A new report from the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia says that nearly three quarters of the commonwealth's attorney elections held over a 10 year period were uncontested.
The ACLU looked at every commonwealth's attorney election held between 2005 and 2015. The group says that of the 381 total races during that period, 72 percent of them were uncontested.
The ACLU says that means commonwealth's attorneys' broad powers often go unchecked.
La Bravia Jenkins is the commonwealth's attorney for the City of Fredericksburg and president of the Virginia Association of Commonwealth's Attorneys. She rejected the ACLU's suggestion that local prosecutors have "unparalleled powers."
Jenkins also said that commonwealth's attorneys may go unopposed in elections because the community thinks he or she is doing a good job.
