Leading Off
●Virginia: Democrats in Virginia, who won control of state government last year for the first time in a quarter century, have now used their new majorities to advance a slew of bills to expand voting access and reform how elections work. Below, we'll detail each of these reforms, which include:
- Same-day voter registration;
- Automatic voter registration;
- No-excuse absentee voting and prepaid postage on mail ballots;
- Protections for minority voting rights modeled after the Voting Rights Act;
- Redistricting reform;
- Loosening the state's voter ID requirement;
- Joining the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact;
- An Election Day holiday;
- Extending polling hours on Election Day;
- Letting localities adopt instant-runoff voting for local elections; and
- Requiring hand-filled paper ballots or machines that print paper ballots.