The Virginian-Pilot
©
RICHMOND
No-excuse absentee voting by senior citizens appears headed for the legislative scrap heap this year.
Under current law, absentee voting in Virginia is restricted to people who can claim one of several excuses, among them work, illness, disability and military service.
Sen. John Miller's bill, SB139, would have allowed those 65 and older to cast absentee ballots without giving excuses. It breezed through the Senate 34-6 but got a chilly reception in a House subcommittee Tuesday morning.
The Newport News Democrat's bill was tabled on a motion by Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, meaning it is unlikely to reach the House floor.
"I'm just not in favor of no-excuse voting," Jones said afterward.
He said he thinks there are adequate provisions in current law to accommodate those for whom getting to the polls is a hardship.
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No big deal
It's really no big deal. 29 states already have no-excuse absentee voting and there's no major havoc.
Absentee voting
Why don't we require everyone to use the internet and then you can vote as many times as you have email addresses?
A lazy and stupid voter responds
As one who voted by absentee the last two elections due to my work schedule on election day and for the 20 plus years I served in the military, no-excuse absentee ballot is no different than going to the polls on election day except that you cast your vote at the elections office at the court house or at DMV at a time and day that's convenient. It requires no higher level of intelligence, digital dexterity, or knowledge of the constitution than voting on election day -- but without the waiting. I've also worked inside the polls before and getting a voting machine out to a disabled or elderly voter in an automobile is a huge hassle and disrupts everyone in the polling place including other voters. And the problems Virginia had with military and overseas absentee ballots had nothing to do with hanging chads or the intelligence level of the voters, but with local registrars getting them in the mail on time. Why shouldn't we make it as easy as we can for eligible voters to exercise their constitutional rights?
Hmmm....
You don't sound like a lazy or stupid voter to me. The law allows people who cannot make it to the poles (this includes elderly people who cannot make it due to a disability) to vote absentee. I am not saying that people who use absentee ballots are stupid and lazy, I am just saying that we should not make it easier for lazy and stupid people to vote. What happens when there are drives out there to get lazy and stupid people to vote? We elect politicians with law degrees who have zero experience besides being a community organizer.
Now I see your point, Ed
You have to be lazy and stupid to think that someone who attended 7 colleges before getting a degree, who was the mayor of a small frontier town, who doesn't read newspapers and magazines, who can't name a single Founding Father, who doesn't know why there are two Koreas, who thinks being able to see Russia from her hometown gives her foreign policy experience, who thinks having a son in the Army qualifies her to be ccmmander in chief, and who has to write notes on the palm of her hand like a middle-schooler is qualified to be one heart-beat away from the presidency. And here I though you were talking aobut Democarats all this time. My bad!
repubs always want to reduce turnout
The repubs have always tried to find ways to restrict voting. A big turnout favors the democrats so the repubs do everything in they can to limit access to polls.
Well,
That's because they realize that those people that are too lazy or stupid to vote are usually too stupid or lazy to understand the constitution, democracy and simple economics.
Huh?
We're talking about extending a courtesy to elderly (but non-disabled) voters so they don't have to stand in line in the rain for hours at oh-dark-thirty to vote as happened during the 2008 presidential election.
So there!
“I’m just not in favor of no-excuse voting,”
I'm agin' it, This is my committee and I ain't gunna let it get outa here so ain't nobody gunna do it!
Sheeesh People...........
How soon you forget ! Anyone REMEMBER the problems w/ absentee ballots in Florida during the Bush/ Gore election ?
The 'possibility of abuse' is the Point !
This Bill makes Dangling Chad seem a poor lost relation.
With this Bill and the one to allow Corporate Donations, why even BOTHER to Hold an Election ?