The votes are counted and the people have spoken. Thursday, we'll congratulate Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell on a well-run, focused campaign and express the hope that the Republican who ran as a moderate candidate is the Republican who shows up in the governor's mansion.
A year ago, many Virginians overseas did not receive their absentee ballots in a timely manner. Those members of the military and citizens living abroad therefore were effectively denied their chance to vote.
In response, the General Assembly this year clarified language in the election code. It now requires local voter registrars to get absentee ballots out 45 days before Election Day so there is ample time for turnaround. Previously, the language had only urged registrars to do so.
This year, 16 localities missed the deadline. Excuses abound, and some of them are pretty good, but the bottom line is that the rule is in place, and local registrars need to meet the requirement. Unfortunately, missing the deadline has no real penalties now.
We're writing an editorial for Tuesday about this problem. We will urge the General Assembly to give the law some teeth. We don't want registrars to lose state money if they miss the deadline. After all, funding shortfalls are partly to blame for the problem. Rather, the State Board of Elections should be empowered to intervene in localities that chronically violate the law.
Citizens of Virginia will elect a new governor and attorney general Tuesday and decide whether the House of Delegates will continue to be controlled by Republicans who have refused to take real action on the transportation crisis facing the state.
Many national pundits want to make this campaign a referendum about President Obama a year after his historic election.
A recent poll showed that Virginia voters are smarter than that. Only about 30 percent said Obama would factor in their decision in any way. Most Virginians know Tuesday's vote is about their home state, not the nation.
The direction Virginia could take in the next four years is certainly what weighed most heavily on members of The Roanoke Times editorial board as we deliberated our endorsements.
Project Vote Smart tries to educate Virginia voters
By Dan Radmacher
Radmacher is editorial page editor for The Roanoke Times.
The overwhelming majority of candidates on Tuesday's ballot have already failed voters. Given an opportunity to tell citizens of Virginia where they stand on the gamut of issues, most candidates declined.
Only four candidates for delegate or statewide office in area elections passed Project Vote Smart's political courage test.
Those candidates were Del. Onzlee Ware and his challenger in the race for the 11th District, Troy Bird; Carter Turner, who is running against Del. Morgan Griffith in the 8th District; and Will Smith, a Constitution Party candidate running in the 19th District.
Project Vote Smart's test of political courage is simple: It offers candidates the opportunity to fill out a very broad survey of where they stand on the issues. Those who take the test pass. Those who refuse fail.
Ride Solutions, local political blog Star City Harbinger and the Fork restaurants owned by Roanoke City Councilman David Trinkle (Fork in the Alley and Fork in the City) are teaming up in a get-out-the-vote effort on Tuesday.
Ride Solutions will help get you to the polls if you need assistance. And if you wear your "I voted" sticker to one of the restaurants afterward, you'll get 10 percent off the price of your meal.
Members of the local chapter of Drinking Liberally will be gathering at Fork in the Alley that night - drowning their sorrows if the latest polls are any indication.
Some pretty out-there ideas are being floated to help generate revenue for transportation. Bob McDonnell wants to put up toll booths at the state borders. Other, more serious proposals include installing GPS devices in cars and making drivers pay per-mile for certain segments of roads.
In an editorial we're working on for later, we'll argue that, though it is far from perfect, the gas tax is a far more efficient way to pay for roads - at least for now. That may change as cars get super-efficient and hybrids and purely electric cars become more common.
When that happens, the gas tax may not work, and these schemes might merit more serious consideration. Before that day comes, a lot of thought needs to go into the drawbacks and privacy implications of having the government track your car's every move in order to properly assess transportation fees.
Google Voice has a feature that will transcribe voice mail and send it to you via e-mail. I imagine it's handy, when the transcription works. Former Roanoke Times reporter Andrew Kantor shared a transcription from a recent robocall from Creigh Deeds that didn't turn out that well for the gubernatorial candidate, unless there's a hidden vote out there for creepy rapists:
<em>I don’t know what your with creepy. It’s for governor. I know how important this rapist. If you could give me a moving forward and I know the work with you on the ground makes a big difference. The Washington Post and doors creepy. It’s great to get. I have record of achievement as a legislator Election Day, Tuesday, December 3rd. But we need your help in Virginia today. Call me at the polls on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3rd between 6 and 7 PM. Developer credence for governor.</em>
Eight of Virginia's part-time legislators also work for one or other of its colleges and universities, setting up the potential for conflicts of interests: Lawmakers could try to pad their incomes in exchange for promises to use their influence to get legislative favors. Monday's news story examining these relationships revealed no smoking gun, but it did spotlight a loaded one: Disclosure provisions of the state's conflict of interest law specifically exclude salary or wages paid by state or local government. In an editorial to run later in the week, we'll urge the General Assembly to close that loophole.
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