Category: Electoral process
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Stop the Sign Thefts!
by Susan Lang Shelly Fularon Wood is running for Commonwealth Attorney in Chesapeake. She has handled more than 2,700 criminal cases in Virginia. She has experience working in the Norfolk Prosecutor’s office and was appointed by Chesapeake Circuit Court Judges to serve as a Substitute Judge. Despite these tremendous credentials, or maybe because of them,…
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Terry McAuliffe as Governor Aggressively Denied Charter Schools to Poor Minority Children
by James C. Sherlock Terry McAuliffe demonstrated as governor that he will fight public charter schools. He will oppose them regardless of the lifelong costs to the students of some truly pitiful Virginia public schools, many with majorities of minority students. When governor, he vetoed a major attempt by the General Assembly to help those…
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Dominion and Despicable Voter Suppression
by Steve Haner Dominion Energy Virginia’s knowing participation in an effort to suppress the November 2 vote, aimed mainly at Western Virginia Republicans, is a truly despicable act. It should enrage all Virginians, without regard to party. This is a state-created and regulated monopoly and the $200,000 it spent on this underhanded activity was provided…
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Redistricting: Incumbents, Open Seats, and Partisanship
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Most General Assembly incumbents are resting easier. The Democrat and Republican map drawers took their guidance from the Virginia Redistricting Commission seriously and drew district lines putting most incumbents in districts with no other incumbents. As discussed in an earlier post, the Commission members interpreted Virginia Code language as requiring it to…
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Redistricting: the First Stab at Statewide Maps
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Virginia Redistricting Commission started out by dividing the state into eight regions. Its original plan was to proceed with drawing House and Senate districts, region by region, starting with Northern Virginia. That quickly proved to be inefficient, slow, and impractical. Last week the map drawers were instructed to produce statewide House…
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The Real Election Integrity Issue in VA this Year
by Paul Goldman Virginia is on track to hold an unconstitutional, illegal election this November 2. The Governor knows it. The Lieutenant Governor knows it. The Attorney General knows it; indeed, he is in court fighting my effort as the lawyer for the defendants in Goldman v Northam, et al, which is a federal action…
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Campaign Finance Reform in Virginia – the New Governor Must Lead
by James C. Sherlock I consider campaign finance reform the foremost issue facing representative government in Virginia. We are one of only a few states with no campaign donations limits at all. We pay for that in legislation enacted and not enacted because of the preferences of huge donors. And in the stink of legal…
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Maybe the Redistricting Commission is Working Out After All
In two recent articles in Bacon’s Rebellion, Dick Hall-Sizemore has thoroughly documented the sausage-making that has gone into the Virginia Redistricting Commission. It’s ugly, and it’s discouraging, and makes you wonder if there is any hope for humanity. But the release of two draft maps shows what the new districts could look like. The maps…
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Paperwork Is for the Little People
by Donald Smith This is a story of two political candidates, from two different parties, and the standard that should –but almost assuredly won’t — be applied to both. The candidates are Terry McAuliffe, Democrat, running for governor of Virginia in 2021, and Nick Freitas, Republican, running for the House of Delegates in 2019. The…
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Election Law Changes: Sept. 17 is Now Key Date
by Steve Haner If the current COVID-19 surge continues into the fall, and Governor Ralph Northam once again declares a health emergency, absentee ballots returned by mail will not need a witness signature. Now it will be by General Assembly fiat, not a judge’s order. That alone ought to motivate a bunch of hesitant Republicans…
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Can Poll Workers Halt Maskless People from Voting?
by James A. Bacon On June 8, Rob Schilling walked into the Woodbrook precinct of Albemarle County to cast a vote in the Democratic Party primary. A talk show host on WINA radio, he was well-known locally as a conservative — there aren’t many in the area, so he stands out — but under Virginia…
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Clean Virginia Dissed Again, Dem Takes Dom Cash
by Steve Haner Prince William Democrat Hala Ayala, who had pledged not to accept campaign contributions from Dominion Energy Virginia and took money instead from its opponents, has now accepted $100,000 from the regulated monopoly. Heads are exploding. The anti-Dominion activist group Clean Virginia had given her $25,000 in her bid for the Democratic nomination…
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Democrats Fight Back as Boss Bills Cracks Whip
by Steve Haner Two Virginia Democrats who have been loyal soldiers in the army to turn Virginia green as well as blue are under attack in the June 8 primary for the sin of accepting campaign donations from Dominion Energy. It doesn’t matter to the attacker – our old friend Clean Virginia — that Dominion…
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Cox First to Appeal for Second Choice Votes
by Steve Haner Former House Speaker Kirk Cox is the first of the GOP candidates for Governor to take the expected step of asking explicitly for second choice votes. “Delegates, the Republican convention is fast approaching,” he says in new video message. “The Republican nomination for Governor has been spirited. Look, I understand I might…
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How Not to Build a Big Tent
by James A. Bacon American Jews belonging to the Reform and Conservative movements within Judaism back Democrats in overwhelming numbers. Ultra-Orthodox Jews skew strongly Republican. But there is a swing vote within U.S. Judaism: Modern Orthodox Jews. While a slim majority identify as Democrat, liberal or progressive, 37% describe themselves as Republican, conservative, or libertarian,…