Category: Electoral process
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Rosalyn Dance Can Help Interpret Democratic Election Laws
by James C. Sherlock Governor Youngkin has appointed former state Senator Rosalyn Dance, D-Petersburg, as vice chairman of the state Board of Elections. As vice-chair, she is the highest ranking Democrat on the board. She will perform an absolutely vital role. She will be asked to help interpret the complete overhaul of Virginia’s election laws conducted…
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New Yorkers, Virginians Will See Your Political Campaign Contributions and Raise You Dick Saslaw
by James C. Sherlock The New York Post was scandalized. In a stunning display of how New York politics work, two of the state Legislature’s most outspoken opponents of charter schools are also among the biggest recipients of campaign cash from New York’s teachers’ union and its political action committee. State Sen. John Liu (D-Queens),…
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Senate Privileges and Elections Committee Votes for Virginia to Remain an Oligarchy
by James C. Sherlock Oligarchy: a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution. The Privileges and Elections Committee of the Virginia Senate has voted down two bills by Senator Chap Petersen that would have restored some semblance of a democratic republic status to Virginia. Senate Bill 803 would have for…
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Now It’s a Party: Local Elections May Be Decided in June for a While
by Joe Fitzgerald It looks like 12 percent of people voting in Harrisonburg’s Nov. 8 City Council election cast a vote for only one of the four candidates instead of the two they could have voted for. But that number needs more asterisks on it than a home run record. Single-shot votes are difficult to…
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Ranked-Choice Voting in Virginia? Not Yet (Except Maybe Primaries)
by Ken Reid A ranked-choice voting system (RCV) is an alternative electoral process that allows people to vote for multiple candidates on a ballot in order of the voter’s preference. RCV has been adopted in at least 60 jurisdictions across the nation, including statewide and federal elections in Maine and Alaska. Should Virginia counties and…
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As Election Day Approaches
by Dick Hall-Sizemore For most Virginians, this election season has been fairly quiet. In only three of the 11 Congressional districts has there been anything close to a contested election. Some local offices are on the ballot. Here and there is a bond referendum. There have been two major election issues in the news that…
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How to Tweak the Drive-Up Voting Process
by Janice Stewart A few weeks ago, Bacon’s Rebellion writer Jim Sherlock recounted his positive experience with drive-up voting in Virginia Beach. Good deal, I thought. Jim and his wife had an easier voting experience, and he gave the election officials who assisted them high marks. What’s not to like? Yesterday, I served as an…
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Oops! Look What We Just Found!
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Youngkin Department of Elections just recently began processing more than 107,000 voter registration applications dating back to last spring. This is after early voting had begun. These applications involved residents who had registered through the Department of Motor Vehicles. The snafu is blamed on a computer “glitch” that caused “intermittent network…
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Voter Suppression in Virginia? What Voter Suppression?
by James A. Bacon The Virginia State Conference of the NAACP has demanded that Attorney General Jason Miyares immediately replace his recently created Election Integrity Unit with a group to combat voter suppression and increase voter registration. Said Robert N. Barnette, Jr, President of the Virginia NAACP in a statement issued last week: Many studies…
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Imaginary Protection Against Imaginary Threats
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Attorney General Jason Miyares has taken another step to politicize his office and the enforcement of election laws. As reported by the Virginia Mercury, Miyares has announced the formation of a 20-member “Election Integrity Unit.” The purpose of the unit is to ensure the “legality and purity” of elections. There has been…
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Ranked Choice Voting Coming to Virginia?
by Jon Baliles Now that state and congressional redistricting are done, the non-partisan group OneVirginia2021 that fought for years to bring sensible, fair redistricting to Virginia has rebranded its name and focus. Nonpartisan experts have generally given the resulting legislative congressional maps high marks for partisan fairness even though some unsuccessfully challenged the new maps…
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Triumphs in Criminal Bail Reform and Restorative Justice
by James C. Sherlock George Soros wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday July 31. Title: “Why I Support Reform Prosecutors.” Subtitle: “Justice or safety? It’s a false choice. They reinforce each other.” Mr. Soros proudly proclaims he has supported the election (and more recently the re-election) of prosecutors who support reform.…
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Disin-Cline-Nation
by Jim McCarthy Representative Ben Cline secured more than 80% of the votes cast in the primary in the Virginia’s 6th Congressional District. Fewer than 5% of registered voters participated, and the margin was less than 10% of the votes that elected him in 2020. Since then, the January 6 Committee has commenced its hearings.…
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For Want of a Plaintiff
by Jim McCarthy On June 6, 2022, one hundred or more Virginians breathed a sigh of relief that they would not be required to campaign for the House of Delegates in November 2022. A panel of federal judges dismissed a lawsuit challenging the 2021 delegate elections because the voting districts were malapportioned, i.e., the results…
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Faithless Electors, Faithless Congresspersons
by Jim McCarthy “With what shall I fix it, dear Liza, dear Liza, with what shall I fix it, dear Liza, with what?” May 30th is National Hole in the Bucket Day offering the states and Congress the opportunity to fix the hole in the bucket of Presidential electoral processes and procedures. At present, members…