From the Hampton Roads Daily Press:
A House committee rejected another attempt to allow governors to serve two consecutive terms, then killed a dozen reform measures aimed at opening up the election system to more, and speedier, voting.
[…]
When the House Privileges and Elections Committee was done, bills buried for the year included those that would have:
Allowed anyone to vote via absentee ballot.
Mandated that more voting machines be bought.
Made the destruction of voter registration applications a felony.
They weren’t party-line votes, either. Del. Adam Ebbin’s (D-Arlington) HB 2758, which would permit people to vote beginning three days before Election Day (as in Florida, only with a tighter timeframe), was defeated in committee 16-4, and it had an even number of Democrats vote against it and for it, with one Republican voting for it and the rest against it. And his HB 2636, which would permit people to vote absentee for any reason at all (as opposed to for any of a few enumerated reasons) went down with the same votes, with one more Republican crossing over for its 15-5 defeat.
Incumbents — regardless of party affiliation — are afraid of change, because change means that they could lose when they run for reelection. This is not new, and this is not likely to change any time soon. But Democrats in Virginia ought to know better. After a century of dominance, we lost power in 1998. Plainly, something has to change if we want to return to the top of the heap. Why not open up the elections?