Reminders: 1) Virginia early voting starts THIS FRIDAY; 2) everyone should vote early, if possible, also IN-PERSON or very early if by mail!; 3) obviously, vote Democratic up and down your ballot; 4) last but not least, make sure you vote YES on all three constitutional amendments – reproductive freedom, marriage equality, voting rights restoration!

Beth Macy to celebrate start of in-person voting at Sept. 18 Roanoke rally

Roanoke NAACP leader Hale also to speak at 8:30 a.m. event

ROANOKE — Beth Macy, Democratic candidate for Congress in Virginia’s 6th District, will kick off the first day of in-person voting in Virginia on Friday, Sept. 18, with an 8:30 a.m. rally outside of the Roanoke City Office of Voter Registration and Elections, 317 Kimball Ave., N.E.

“We need to gather and celebrate as Virginians exercise their right to not only vote, but vote how and when as their state law allows,” Macy said. “Early voting is convenient and accessible — and who can be against making democracy more open to the people?”

Macy will be joined by Dr. Brenda Hale, a U.S. Navy veteran and president of the Roanoke branch of the NAACP. Both will arrive by 8 a.m. and be available for interviews before and after the rally, which is set to conclude by 9 a.m.

Early in-person voting runs from Friday, Sept. 18, through Saturday, Oct. 31. Hours for early voting at the Roanoke Elections Office are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday. (Closed Oct. 12 in observance of Columbus Day.) The Roanoke Elections Office also will be open for voting on select Saturdays and Sundays in October. Visit the website for details.

Voters outside of Roanoke are encouraged to visit their local elections office website for the location and hours of early voting, as well as deadlines for voter registration and mail-in ballots.

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Beth Macy has long stood with outsiders and underdogs. She grew up poor in a small Ohio town, became the first in her family to go to college, and built her adult life in Roanoke, Va., where she and her husband, Tom, raised their two children. For 25 years at The Roanoke Times, Beth covered the stories of people and communities across western Virginia — listening without judgment and digging for the truth, even when the truth was hard to hear.

Beth has spent her career highlighting how the system has devolved to benefit billionaires over working families. She has listened to, grieved with, and advocated alongside parents who lost children to addiction, workers whose jobs disappeared, and communities forced to fight for basic services like child care, health care, and mental health treatment.

She has watched Virginia families work harder than ever while falling further behind, as the people in power have become more beholden to corporations and the ultra-wealthy than to the communities that elected them. In this unprecedented time of democratic backslide, Beth is running for Congress to protect the rule of law, to expand access to health care and education— and to ensure that every American can build a better future for themselves and their families.