Great Move by Gov. Kaine

By: Lowell
Published On: 2/22/2008 3:31:14 PM

In the aftermath of the winter-weather-related voting debacle on 2/12, this is a great move by Gov. Kaine:

In response to weather problems that prevented many Northern Virginia residents from voting in last week's presidential primary, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine asked legislators Thursday to make it easier to extend polling hours.

The proposal would allow the State Board of Elections or the chairmen of the state's political parties to ask a circuit court judge to extend the voting hours when emergency circumstances prevent voters from getting to the polls on time.

As it turns out, the only way that polls could have been extended on 2/12 would have been if one of the campaigns had asked a judge to do so.  That didn't happen, and many people were unable to vote because they were stuck on icy roads for hours. I certainly hope the General Assembly passes this legislation so that a situation like the one on 2/12 never happens again in Virginia.

Comments



great idea (notwaltertejada - 2/22/2008 4:25:11 PM)
that's right- many federal government workers (clinton's most loyal constituency) did not get to vote because they were stuck on 395, 66 etc for hours. this proposal is a great idea.


Any evidence that federal workers (Lowell - 2/22/2008 4:31:29 PM)
favored Clinton over Obama?  As far as I can tell, it's totally the opposite, as places like Arlington, PG and Montgomery County went to Obama by huge margins. Lots of federal workers there, last I checked.  Oh, also DC.


There is no question those were Clinton supporters (Ben - 2/22/2008 4:34:57 PM)
Although I will concede that they would not have tipped the entire state, but they certainly would have won her an extra Delegate in the 11th CD and maybe one more in the statewide count.


Any exit polling (Lowell - 2/22/2008 4:36:43 PM)
or other data on federal workers' political preferences?


Um, may I address this with some minor evidence? (AnonymousIsAWoman - 2/22/2008 6:39:06 PM)
Ok, it's not an official poll but my sense, as an actual, real live federal worker, is that many of us are Obama supporters.

I'm sure Hillary has some strong support too.  But Obama does well in the federal community.  And after 7 years of Bush even the Republicans (and some feds are GOP - a lot of retired military members are also in the government) are counting down to a new administation.

And we definitely need to extend voting hours to stop disenfranchising people who choose to serve the nation by working for the government and its citizens.  It's a slap in the face that so many could not reach the polls because of inclement weather, while Maryland extended their hours.



I worked in the federal government for 17 years (Lowell - 2/22/2008 8:13:34 PM)
and most of the people I know that I used to work with were Obama voters.


Extended Voting Hours (ScottCoDemocrat - 2/22/2008 4:46:12 PM)
Do you know the specifics of the legislation?  Would it have to apply state wide? Or could a Circuit Court Judge extend the hours for his particular circuit without changing other circuits?

I felt sorry for my friends in NoVA who were trying to get to the polls on 2/12 through the ice and gridlock, but we had 60 degrees when I drove home.  And of course our election officials had already worked a 13 hour day.

I agree that we need a way to deal with emergencies that is less complicated than the present system.  Why can't we simply allow the Local Boards of Election to extend voting hours due to weather conditions and other defined emergencies without even having to bother the Judges?  Any thoughts?

This is a little of topic, but we desperately need no excuse early voting in Virginia.  I am so fustrated that good bills like Senator Deeds' keep getting killed by the Republicans.



The bill details are (Lowell - 2/22/2008 4:52:36 PM)
here:


Another solution (David Campbell - 2/22/2008 5:15:32 PM)
About half the states require employers to allow time off to vote (many even paid time off).  Not Virginia (I suppose this is a vestige of the Jim Crow days).

I have not seen anything to indicate the preference of federal employees.



David, the federal government gives time off for voting (AnonymousIsAWoman - 2/22/2008 6:42:17 PM)
and even with it, lots of federal workers didn't make it home in time.  They were stuck on I-95 on the Mixing Bowl, which was shut down due to icing.  People were stuck for five hours.  Getting out an hour earlier wouldn't have helped. Some people struggled and got to the polls just at 7:05 and couldn't vote.