Senate Clears Way for Easier Absentee Votting

By Xanthe Waters Sunday, January 31, 2010

RICHMOND – It would be easier to vote absentee in Virginia under a bill approved by the Senate.

Senators voted 29-10 in favor of Senate Bill 83, which would allow qualified voters to vote absentee in person without providing an excuse or reason. Under existing law, Virginians must give an excuse, such as illness or work reasons, to cast a ballot before Election Day.

“It is unfair to make people who want to vote absentee go through unnecessary hoops,” said the bill’s chief sponsor, Sen. Janet Howell, D-Reston.
“There is no need to turn registered voters into scofflaws.”

SB 83 says Virginians still would have to provide a reason to cast an absentee ballot by mail. Current law allows 10 excuses for voting absentee. They range from “disability, illness or pregnancy” to being a student, a police officer or a member of the U.S. military.

All 22 Democrats in the Senate voted for the bill. Of the Republican senators, Sen. Tommy Norment was one of seven voting in favor of the bill. Ten Republicans voted against it and one (Sen. Frederick Quayle of Suffolk) did not vote.

The bill now goes to the House of Delegates for consideration.

If it becomes law, Virginia would be the 33rd state to let people vote absentee in person for any reason.

Howell said that family emergences, extreme weather and traffic shouldn’t determine whether someone’s vote gets counted.

“Nothing as arbitrary as traffic should keep Virginians from exercising their right to vote,” she said.