Kaine proposes 45 days of “no-excuse” early voting
-- Governor Timothy M. Kaine today proposed legislation to let Virginia's voters cast early ballots in person without offering any excuse.
The state now requires early voters to give one of 17 reasons, such as being away on business or on vacation on Election Day.
The proposed legislation would allow any qualified voter to cast an absentee ballot in person at their registrar's office during the 45 day absentee voting period, without providing an excuse or reason.
Those wishing to vote absentee by mail would still be required to meet one of the existing statutory requirements.
"Virginia has a long history of running outstanding elections, but [last] year showed that high volume can cause problems in a process that should be as smooth as possible," Kaine said.
"By allowing all voters to cast an absentee ballot in person, we can remove some of the practical barriers that prevent people from participating in the democratic process."
In the most recent statewide election, 320,000 absentee ballots were cast in person by voters meeting the eligibility requirements.
Twenty six other states currently offer a no-excuse alternative voting time.
Reader Reactions
It was that it was harder than ever to vote absentee. You almost had to be out of the country verified by your company or in the military. Now anybody can vote absentee except the military because of all the screw ups by the state. After the last election someone figured out it would be easier if everybody voted early. 45 days early is an outrage. Why not anytime and then be able to change your vote because of something that happens and now your cantidate is no longer running so you can vote twice.
I say make it harder to vote absentee then the truely patriotic people who want to excersize their constitutional rights can do so and the other lazy people can just suffer .
randy,,,,WHEN I WAKE UP TOMORO,,YOU CAN FIND ME ,,at the V/A,,with my son ,,trin to heal him over some kind of SHOT ,,the CIA gave him to combat chem./bio/warfare in kuwait war…yea when i wake up tomoro ,,do you really think i give a dammmm,,you take my only son,,to get your 14 billion profit,,yea talk to me AYATOLLIA !!,,HE HAS MY TWO GRANDDAUGHTERS,,he is a father of love,,compashion,,yet he will be lucky to be alive to see them marry,,much less be a grand dad,,so bring it on bit,,,
YEA I KNOW ALL ABOUT THE aiatollias of virginia,,i just thought we were fighting them in iran and iraq,,not here !!
Hey Zero! Celebrating your first beer? Congratulations!! Man, when you wake up sober tomorrow morning, you’re gonna hate yourself over the post you put up.
,,what the governor of va ,,needs to do ,,is forgive “"FREEDOM”“of Lynchburg ,va,,he needs to grant him a PARDON,,when pat robertson can call for the death of vensualia pres cheves,,and nothing happens,,except russia sends its fleet here and give them 4 billion in military aide(monroe doctrin) and he shuts down the KENNEDY oil program to the poor ,,( hi carolin),,,and a free citicen of the commonwealth ,,changeledges the illegal voting of outer state students,,and he is jailed and damned forever and forced into homelessnes,,as his only begotten son faught in gulf war 1,,and sent in an absentee ballot to vote and yet they cant do the same !!where are you ,,HOPE R. AMEZQUITA,,of ACLU !!and what r u gonna do ??
I would venture to say if he is going to go that far, why not allow internet voting as well? Have you not been to websites that allow only one “vote” in polls? Or what about soon being able to file for Social Security benefits online - that is unless Obama takes SS and Medicare away from those who paid into the scheme - or drivers license’s.
No problem with those so why not vote as well?
I am surprised that Kaine didn’t learn from the Al Franken fiasco and suggest voting for democrats AFTER election day so they can come up with enough votes to win every election. I mean, come on, let’s forget this polite notion that democrats don’t have a long history of voter fraud whether it was Nixon getting screwed in Chicago, dead people being registered, ACORN’s activities and the democrats screwing up the ballots in Florida so badly that Pat Buchanan ended up with 1,500 votes.
Oh dear God. That’s all we need—another excuse to start the 2011 elections early. Not 2009—2011.
Has anyone ever considered that the Constitution states specifically that all federal elections will be held “on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November”? The way we vote now is unconstitutional. Has anyone also thought about how unbelievably moronic it is to cast an absentee ballot in person?
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