ELECTIONS AND VOTING
With start of early voting, Virginia begins high-stakes election season
Starting today, voters across Virginia can begin casting ballots in pivotal General Assembly elections that will decide which party controls the closely divided state legislature. The start of the 45-day early voting window — during which Virginians can cast ballots in person at their local election office or send an absentee ballot through the mail […]
House District 97: Democrat Feggans vs. incumbent Republican Greenhalgh
In the Virginia Beach-centered 97th House District, a close race is shaping up between Republican incumbent and entrepreneur Del. Karen Greenhalgh and Democratic Air Force veteran Michael Feggans. Greenhalgh, who is finishing out her first term in office, has founded several cabinet manufacturing and cybersecurity businesses, as well as managing a pregnancy crisis center. While […]
After ERIC withdrawal, Virginia strikes deals with 6 states to share voter data
The Virginia Department of Elections recently signed agreements to exchange voter registration data with six other states
Senate District 24 race: Republican Diggs vs. incumbent Democrat Mason
Redistricting has put a major spotlight on Senate District 24, which runs from Williamsburg to Poquoson in Virginia’s Tidewater area and reaches south to a portion of Newport News. As national money floods into the race, both candidates are acknowledging the importance to their party of the seat, but remain determined to run locally focused […]
Much of the maligning of Susanna Gibson is rooted in misogyny
You’ve probably heard Susanna Gibson’s name mentioned a lot this week. Headlines blared the torrid news about Gibson, a Democratic candidate running to represent the 57th District in Virginia’s House of Delegates: She performed sex acts with her husband for an online audience and asked viewers to chip in tips, a violation of porn site […]
Power of the disability vote
By Helena Berger The seventh annual Disability Voting Rights Week is being celebrated throughout the United States this week. Across Virginia, organizations collaborating with REV UP Virginia — a non-partisan, statewide coalition of disabled individuals, disability organizations, and ally groups working collectively to increase the political power of disabled Virginians — are holding events to […]
Democrats need to embrace economic populism
By Ben Litchfield A few weeks ago, Governor Glenn Youngkin was on Fox News talking about the state of the national economy. In his segment with Laura Ingraham, he described how a trip to the grocery store is still a “gut punch” for working families with more than 60% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck. […]
Using the Dems’ own law, Youngkin could unlock GOP power in pivotal 2023 races
After years of watching Democrats earn tens of thousands of ballots cast early in Virginia elections, Gov. Glenn Youngkin this year did something logical and refreshing if not, by some measures, brazen: He urged his fellow Republicans to vote early. Think about that a second. Why should stating obvious common sense and a laudable civic […]
As ranked choice voting gains momentum, parties in power push back
Over the past decade, ranked choice voting has become increasingly popular. From conservative Utah to liberal New York City, 13 million American voters in 51 jurisdictions — including all of Alaska and Maine — now use the system, under which voters rank candidates based on preference, leading to an instant runoff in a crowded race. […]
Virginia elections board declines to help Democrat bounced from ballot over party’s typo
The lack of a “.gov” in a Democratic party official’s attempted email to the Virginia Department of Elections will apparently leave Democrats without a candidate in a Republican-leaning state Senate district this year. On Tuesday, the State Board of Elections seemed to ignore an 11th-hour appeal from a lawyer representing Trudy Berry, a Democrat who […]
Cost shouldn’t be the main factor in operating satellite voting centers
Richmond’s Republican-majority electoral board recently blundered into a needless controversy over early voting satellite sites. The board had shut down two locations before reversing itself this month following a heated outcry from state and local officials, residents and community activists. The initial decision to shutter the sites even violated state law. Starlet Stevens, Richmond Electoral […]
In reversal, some states make it harder for people with felony convictions to vote
The year started out strong for advocates trying to make it easier for people with felony convictions to regain their voting rights. In March, the Democratic-led legislatures in Minnesota and New Mexico enacted measures that cleared a pathway for residents serving prison time for felonies to regain their right to vote upon being released. It […]