Virginia

Should legislators tweak Virginia’s 2006 voter roll law for more clarity? • Virginia Mercury

Published

1 year ago

October 30, 2024

Should legislators tweak Virginia’s 2006 voter roll law for more clarity? • Virginia Mercury

Virginia officials have asked the United States Supreme Court to block a lower court’s ruling that roughly 1,600 people purged from voter rolls by Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order must be reinstated. Two lawsuits allege that Youngkin’s order violated federal law by removing voters from rolls too close to Election Day, a claim the governor refutes by pointing to a 2006 state law as the basis of his action.

Virginia asks Supreme Court to block order to reinstate 1600 people stripped from voter rolls

The situation has raised questions on whether state lawmakers should consider amending that law for additional clarity and to avoid future legal disputes over how Virginia confirms voter registration shortly before elections.

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The 2006 law

Youngkin has said repeatedly that his executive order was built on a 2006 state law for voter roll cleanups, which directs the Department of Motor Vehicles to send data to the State Board of Elections of people who failed to indicate U.S. citizenship in paperwork. There’s a process of notification and then purging of voters who fail to prove their citizenship, and in previous years, the process was done on a monthly basis. Youngkin’s order directed DMV and Elections Department officials to perform it daily.

The lawsuits the state and Youngkin face say Youngkin’s order ran afoul of the National Voter Registration Act, which institutes a “quiet period” on such actions 90 days before an election. Several state lawmakers have signaled they agree with that allegation, including House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, who previously told The Mercury “The reason that we have this 90-day rule is that we don’t want citizens to be accidentally removed.”

Privileges and Elections Committee chair Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, called Youngkin’s order “reckless” and alleged that it’s being used to “fire up the (Republican) base.”

“When you actually look at the issue of the matter, it’s the 90-day quiet period,” Rouse said.

The courts will decide the matter concerning the legal challenges, John Aughenbaugh, a political science professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, said.

But he added that the Youngkin administration “brought this on themselves” by issuing the order so close to the 90-day federal threshold.

However, Aughenbaugh said, “I can understand why the Youngkin admin told Fox News ‘we didn’t think we were doing anything wrong,’” in citing the 2006 law.

That measure was carried by former republican state Sen. Ken Cucinelli and signed by former Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine. At that time, Republican President George Bush’s Department of Justice had issued a memo that it didn’t object to the law.

In the time since, no one has challenged it, until the two suits against Youngkin.

An argument in Attorney General Jason Miyares’ Supreme Court filing notes confusion on when the federal 90-day law should overpower the 2006 state law.

“The current confusion surrounding the NVRA makes the rules anything but clear,” Miyares’ petition reads. “States are unaware of when, or whether, they can remove noncitizens from the voter rolls. They need to know with certainty whether they can remove noncitizens at any point, only outside of the Quiet Period, or never.”

On Tuesday, the Republican National Committee and Republican Party of Virginia also filed a brief in support of the state’s SCOTUS request.

Virginia GOP calls on U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate Youngkin’s voter purge order

Rouse said there hasn’t yet been talk between himself and other members of the Privileges and Elections Committee about tweaking the 2006 law to spell out the 90-day threshold of the NVRA.

“We haven’t had those conversations,” he said.

As to resolving any confusion, Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, said that the state legislature broadly is always looking at ways past laws might need to be amended.

“This might be one of those times,” he said. “The question then becomes ‘is there a bipartisan solution?”

It might also come down to the question of how to prevent governors from overstepping or skirting federal law, as well as how to prevent presidential administrations from wading into state law, Aughenbaugh suspects.

The debacle playing out on the national stage might prompt Virginia legislators to ask, “Did the Youngkin administration too broadly interpret the law? Do we want to rein-in gubernatorial administrations in the future?” Aughenbaugh posited. “Meanwhile, how do you revise the law so that future presidential administrations don’t single out a state for lawsuits two weeks before Election Day?”

Rouse said there’s valid reasons for those types of deliberations.

“It’s more of a bigger picture with Governor Youngkin in terms of inciting fear and undermining our elections,” Rouse said of conversations he’s having with his fellow lawmakers. “We understand that this administration has been known to make mistakes.”

Rouse pointed to how the administration pulled out of ERIC, a multi-state data-sharing coalition meant to maintain voter roll accuracy — and how he vetoed legislation prompting Virginia’s return to it this year, along with other voting-related bills. The administration also mistakenly canceled over 3,000 people’s registrations last year, Rouse said.

Can same-day voter registration and provisional ballots fix it?

Regardless of whether eligible voters were caught up in the recent purge or runs into other election-access issues, registrars have said that use of same-day registration and provisional ballots are an option that would allow them to vote on Election Day. Provisional ballots require follow-up after voting to verify a person’s address, citizenship status or other factors.

It’s an argument Republican national and state leadership is making as a reason Youngkin’s order and the subsequent voter purges should stand.

“Even if a person entitled to vote were erroneously removed from the voter rolls and unable to respond to the Commonwealth’s outreach, they may still take advantage of same-day registration and cast a ballot,” the state’s request to the Supreme Court stated. “No legal voters could or would be disenfranchised.”

Aughenbaugh doubts the nation’s highest court will grant Virginia’s request so close to the elections and suspects people who have been purged may not have to resort to provisional ballots this year.

“I don’t think there are enough (Supreme Court) justices that have the appetite to wade into that dispute less than a week before elections,” he said.

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Virginia

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly from Virginia Tech’s 95-89 Loss to Wake Forest

Published

28 minutes ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly from Virginia Tech’s 95-89 Loss to Wake Forest

Virginia Tech’s ACC Tournament run ended in heartbreaking fashion Tuesday night in Charlotte, as the Hokies fell to Wake Forest 95-89 in overtime. It was a game full of swings. Virginia Tech erased deficits, battled back repeatedly and forced overtime, but couldn’t make enough plays in the extra period.

Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from the game.

The Good: Rebounding dominance and a resilient fight

Virginia Tech did plenty of things well in this game, especially on the boards.

The Hokies outrebounded Wake Forest 45-28, including 21 offensive rebounds, which created 20 second-chance points and repeatedly extended possessions. That advantage helped Virginia Tech stay within striking distance even when the offense stalled.

Head coach Mike Young pointed to the rebounding margin as one of the more frustrating parts of the loss.

“You outrebound somebody 45 to 26 or whatever that is,” Young said. “You’re supposed to win the game. Unfortunately, we did not.”

Several Hokies contributed to that effort. Forward Tobi Lawal led the team with nine rebounds. Centers Christian Gurdak and Antonio Dorn combined for 15 rebounds, with Dorn seeing extended minutes after Amani Hansberry was sidelined with an injury he suffered against Virginia.

Virginia Tech showed its usual resilience. The Hokies erased multiple deficits throughout the game and were able to force overtime in a game where Wake Forest led for almost 36 minutes.

Young praised the fight his team showed throughout the night.

“It’s been a characteristic of this team throughout,” said Young. “They’ve got a lot to them, and great kids to coach.”

The Bad: A quiet night for Neoklis Avdalas

Virginia Tech needed contributions across the lineup in a tight postseason game, but Neoklis Avdalas struggled to make an impact.

Avdalas finished with five points, shooting 2-for-8 from the field. The Hokies’ assist leader was unable to record an assist against the Demon Deacons. He played 31 minutes before spending the final 7:37 of the second half and all of overtime on the bench.

Young confirmed the decision was performance-based.

“I just thought [Jaden Schutt and Jailen Bedford] were playing better than Neo, so that is how it went,” said Young.

Schutt played his most minutes in a game (29) since late January. He shot 3-for-7 from three and made all six of his free throws, ending the night with 15 points.

This game stands in stark contrast to Avdalas’ previous showing against Wake Forest. In that game from Feb. 21, Avdalas scored 17 points, shooting 6-for-14 from the field. He also recorded eight assists and three rebounds that game.

The Ugly: Turnovers early and execution in overtime

THe biggest issue for Virginia Tech came in two stretches: the early turnovers and in overtime.

The Hokies committed 10 turnovers in the first half, allowing Wake Forest to control the pace despite Virginia Tech’s 25-11 first-half rebounding advantage. Off those 10 first-half turnovers, Wake Forest scored 11 points.

“We had some terrible, terrible turnovers,” said Young.

Although Virginia Tech cleaned that up in the second half, only committing three turnovers for the remainder of the game, the early miscues forced the Hokies to play from behind most of the night.

After battling abck all night, overtime is where the Hokies ran out of answers.

Wake Forest quickly seized momentum in the extra period. Guard Myles Colvin gave the Demon Deacons a five-point advantage less than a minute into overtime, making a floater and a three.

The Hokies struggled to generate offense in overtime while Wake Forest capitalized repeatedly at the free-throw line. When Virginia Tech was forced to foul down late, Wake Forest did not allow any chance of a comeback, making all nine of its free throws in overtime.

“They were hitting shots,” Ben Hammond said. “Their point guard had the game of his life today.”

In the end, Wake Forest made the plays Virginia Tech could not.

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Virginia

Virginia lawmakers criticize anti-redistricting mailer with Jim Crow-era images – WTOP News

Published

13 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Virginia lawmakers criticize anti-redistricting mailer with Jim Crow-era images – WTOP News

The flyers encourage people to vote against the redistricting effort and feature pictures of the Ku Klux Klan and from the Civil Rights Movement.

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones condemned flyers with Jim Crow-era images discouraging voters from supporting redistricting in the state.

The mailers, which Jones told WTOP he first learned about last weekend, featured pictures of the Ku Klux Klan and from the Civil Rights Movement. One such mailer said, “Our ancestors fought to represent us. Now Richmond politicians are trying to take our districts away.”

The flyers encourage people to vote against the redistricting effort.

A group, Justice for Democracy, has been sending out mailers and texts with some clear dog whistles, using varying disclaimers in Virginia (“Democracy and Justice PAC” and “Justice for Democracy PAC”).
Its treasurer is listed as Christopher Woodfin and its address is the same … pic.twitter.com/JvetyKGnbw
— Matt Royer (@royermattw) March 7, 2026

Early voting is underway, as Democrats in the state push for changes to congressional districts that are expected to give them more of an advantage in Congress. They said it’s in response to President Donald Trump encouraging redistricting in Republican-led states such as Texas. Republicans, though, have been critical.

In an interview with WTOP, Jones, Virginia’s first Black attorney general, said the mailers are disturbing, shocking, offensive and deceptive.

“It’s very clear a MAGA-linked group that opposes the referendum is sending these mailers to Black voters, and they’re misusing very, very hurtful imagery from the Civil Rights Movement, even invoking Jim Crow, to weaponize one of the darkest chapters in our history, to scare people into voting no and help Republicans maintain a rigged map for 2026 so they can keep control of Congress,” Jones said.

In a statement, the NAACP Virginia State Conference said the flyers falsely compare redistricting to Jim Crow.

“While the NAACP is nonpartisan, we are deeply engaged in political advocacy to safeguard our communities,” said Rev. Cozy Bailey, president of NAACP Virginia.

The purpose of the mailers, Jones said, is to “suppress the vote. It’s to make sure that people don’t go make their voices heard during this election.”

The flyers said they’re paid for by a group called Democracy and Justice PAC. Former Virginia Del. A.C. Cordoza, a Republican, is listed as the chairman, according to Virginia Board of Elections documents.

“I couldn’t see why they say it’s insulting,” Cordoza told WTOP. “I’m a Black man. I don’t want my Black vote to be taken away.”

The proposed new map, Cordoza said, “ripped apart majority-minority districts in order to increase the number of white representatives from Northern Virginia.”

Cordoza said he didn’t know how many homes the mailers had been sent to or how much the PAC spent on them.

“I want people to do their research and see exactly what’s happening,” Cordoza said. “We, as Virginians, voted for a bipartisan redistricting commission for a reason.”

Jones, though, said he sits “across the dinner table from people who have had their right to vote denied because of the color of their skin. It’s 2026. I would hope that we’d be past tactics like this, but clearly we aren’t.”

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Virginia

Gov. Spanberger leads Virginia public safety readiness briefing

Published

1 day ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Gov. Spanberger leads Virginia public safety readiness briefing

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger met with public safety leaders from across the commonwealth Monday as part of a “unified readiness” coordination effort.

The governor met with police and fire chiefs, sheriffs, emergency managers and private sector members — including Dominion Energy — to discuss Virginia’s commitment to public safety, intelligence sharing and interagency collaboration.

“As global tensions continue to evolve, I want to be very clear: there are no known threats specific to Virginia at this time,” Spanberger said. “Today’s briefing was about making sure that information can be shared quickly and we remain at the ready.”

The meeting relates to Spanberger’s Executive Order 12, which she says reaffirms Virginia’s commitment to public safety, community trust, and readiness.

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