Senators Perry and Subramanyam Kill Common Sense Bill on Early Voting

Another commonsense bill was killed by democrats in our state Senate. SB 81 would have
reduced our 45 days of early voting (first put into VA law in 2020 due to COVID) down to three
weeks.

Our Senators Perry and Subramanyam sit on the Privileges and Elections subcommittee. Both
of them, along with all the other democrats on the subcommittee, voted to kill the bill before
even debating the merits.

Perry and Subramanyam endorse the tired talk that reducing the number of days for early
voting amounts to voter suppression.

Really? It must be terrible to be a voter in our neighboring states.

Maryland and North Carolina permit early voting beginning the third Thursday prior to election
day. That’s about 18 days. In Tennessee, early voting starts 20 days before election day. In
West Virginia, it’s 13 days. In DC, 10 days. And in Kentucky, it’s 5 days.

The reality is that 45 days of early voting is excessive. Mainly, it’s a drain on the over-worked
county General Registrars who run elections, their staff, and the election officers from each
community who oversee and execute the election.

Commonsense is rare these days. Or at least the ability to act on it. Sen Subramanyam and
Perry fit the mold of politicians who are unwilling to take a stand for commonsense out of fear
of what the far left will say.