ICYMI: Virginia Early Voters Are Breaking Turnout Records As Primary Election Day Approaches

Richmond, Virginia—Earlier this week, Brad Kutner of Radio IQ reported that Virginia Democrats have broken their record for early voting, with close to 134,000 voters turning out and significantly more expected as Election Day nears. These record early voting numbers demonstrate the necessity of an extended early voting window for helping boost voter turnout. The longer early voting window is helpful in accommodating potential post office delays in an election where most early voters have chosen to return their ballots by mail. This record-breaking turnout comes in a year where Virginia Republicans in the General Assembly fought to roll back the early voting window, notably with HB 2390, patroned by Eric Zehr.  The bill would have narrowed the early voting window from 45 days to 14 days and would have forbidden voters from signing identity affirmation documents in lieu of showing ID at their polling place.

“Record-breaking early voting turnout shows what we’ve always known: when we make voting accessible, people show up,” said LaTwyla Mathias, Executive Director of Progress Virginia.  “Virginia’s 45-day early voting window is working, and that’s exactly why Republican politicians are trying to take it away. Progress Virginia will continue to fight attempts by Republicans in Richmond that would silence voters and roll back our rights.”

Key takeaways from the article: 

  • Because there is no statewide Republican race, there are approximately 14,000 registered early voters in the handful of districts with contested Republican primaries; by contrast, there are approximately 260,000 potential Democratic early votes in an election with two contested statewide offices.
  • HB 2390 was left in the House Privileges and Elections Committee after a subcommittee voted 6-2 to pass it by indefinitely.