ICYMI: House Democrats Thwart GOP Effort to Create More Barriers to Voting in the Commonwealth

From the VA House Democratic Caucus:

ICYMI: House Democrats Thwart GOP Effort to Create More Barriers to Voting in the Commonwealth

House Democrats Kill Bills by Republicans Designed to Limit Early Voting

RICHMOND, VA – Yesterday, the House Privileges and Elections Election Administration Subcommittee stopped a number of harmful Republican bills – designed to make it harder for Virginians to cast their ballot – from moving forward. Under Democratic Majorities in 2020-2021, Virginia went from the 49th hardest state to vote in to the 11th easiest. Despite spending the summer claiming to embrace early voting, Republicans are already up to their old tricks, introducing legislation that would limit the practice in the Commonwealth.

House Majority Leader Charniele Herring said, “Democrats have a history of protecting and expanding the right to vote in the Commonwealth. As legislators, we should be making it  easier for eligible Virginians to vote, not harder. I am grateful for the subcommittee for working on the behalf of our citizens to ensure that every person’s voice is heard, no matter their background.”

“Voting rights are essential to our democracy,” said House Democratic Chair Delegate Kathy Tran. “From expanding early voting to removing voter ID burdens, Democrats have made great progress in making Virginia an easier place to vote. The Privileges and Elections Subcommittee on Elections Administration stood up for that progress and stopped these Republican attacks on our voting rights.”

Delegate Marcia Price, Chair of the House Privileges and Elections Committee,  said, “Voters across the Commonwealth have benefited from increased access to democracy with the changes we made to our elections in the last few years. With important elections coming up, now is not the time to turn back to the obstacles previous lawmakers placed trying to box out certain voters from the voting process. It’s not hard. Make it easy to vote, and more people will.”

“The work we did in committee preserved access and maximized voter participation while ensuring the integrity of the democratic process,” said Delegate Jackie Glass, Chair of the Election Administration Subcommittee.

The following bills were stopped in Committee:

• HB44 (Green): Reduces the early absentee voting period from 45 to 30 days, adding additional barriers to voter access
• HB393 (Griffin): Drastically changes and limits current election law;  would have serious implications for voter privacy; rolls back voting rights and adds additional barriers to voter access
• HB932 (Earley): Reduces the early absentee voting period by two-thirds to 14 days before the election, drastically decreasing it from 45 days
• HB1176 (Wyatt): Changes current election law; implements restrictive voter identification laws, punishing the most vulnerable; reduces the early absentee voting period to 14 days before the election, drastically decreasing it from 45 days
• HB1200 (P. Scott): Reduces the early absentee voting period by two-thirds to two weeks before the election, drastically decreasing it from 45 days