GOP Led Election Board Ends Sunday Voting in Richmond, Kaine on Due Process and Trump, #HBCU Externship, @NAACP on Traffic Stops
“GOP officials just added Richmond to the growing list of localities across the state where MAGA Republicans have banned Sunday voting…”
Richmond: Republican Controlled Election Board Ends Sunday Voting
On July 11, Governor Glenn Youngkin and other Virginia Republicans surprised many with a sudden announcement of support for early voting
— a policy Republicans have opposed in Virginia and nationally.
Today the three person Richmond City Election Board voted to 2-1 to eliminate Sunday voting in Richmond. The Board features two Republicans and one Democrat.
The Board met today to reverse a decision to close two early voting locations in Richmond and added locations at Richmond City Hall and the Hickory Hill Community Center.
But the vote to eliminate Sunday voting is notable. Sunday voting has been used by local and national voting rights organizations as a rallying point to encourage voting. “Souls to the polls” events at polling places have now become standard. The events have been an organizing feature for Black voters in cities with large Black populations. Richmond has the highest Black population in Virginia followed by Norfolk. This year, all of the members of the Virginia Senate and House are on the ballot. Because of off-year elections, Virginia has consequential contests every year.
The Democratic Party of Virginia’s Voter Protection Director, Aaron Mukerjee: “Virginia Republicans say they support early voting, but time and again their actions show otherwise. GOP officials just added Richmond to the growing list of localities across the state where MAGA Republicans have banned Sunday voting. It is no secret that these restrictions on early voting disproportionately impact voters of color and roll back decades of progress on voting rights… as Governor Youngkin and Virginia Republicans have now repeatedly made clear, the struggle for voting rights in Virginia is far from over.”
🚩 From the Richmond City Election Board website: Two members of the electoral board represent the political party that received the highest number of votes in the last preceding gubernatorial election. The third member of the electoral board represents the party that received the next highest number of votes. Electoral board representation regularly changes as the terms of incumbent members expire and new appointments are made, or when an interim appointment is necessary for an unexpired term,” the board’s website reads.
Richmond Times-Dispatch Talks to Kaine on Donald Trump, Due Process … a contrast to Justin Fairfax
“Everybody’s innocent until proven guilty…” The issue of due process has come up numerous times since 2017 as MeToo and the now defunct TIME’S UP movement pushed against the concept of innocent until proven guilty in favor of believe. Stories since 2017 regarding Al Franken, Johnny Depp, Jonathan Majors, Kevin Spacey and now Lizzo have social media buzzing again about the presumption of innocence. In September 2021, Gov. Ralph Northam posthumously pardoned seven Black men, the Martinsville Seven, executed in Virginia in 1951. More recently in Albemarle County, officials pardoned John Henry James who was lynched by a white mob in 1898.
Yesterday, Sen. Tim Kaine was interviewed by the Richmond Times-Dispatch and commented on due process regarding former President Donald Trump — a proven liar accused by 26 women of everything from sexual harassment to rape. One accuser, E. Jean Carroll, won in court against Trump on May 9. Trump was arraigned yesterday in federal court for his actions around the violent Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“Everyone’s innocent until proven guilty,” Kaine said in part regarding Trump (entire audio below).
This contrasts with the Senator stating that Virginia’s second Black Lt. Governor (after L. Douglas Wilder) should resign four hours after a press release from New Jersey attorney Nancy Erika Smith that alleged a crime nineteen years prior with no evidence. On the same Feb. 8, 2019 evening, Smith released a second press release accusing a second standout Duke University graduate, again with no evidence or investigation. Smith’s client, Meredith Watson, hasn’t been heard from since April 3, 2019, the day Lt. Gov. Fairfax announced he was contacting prosecutors to investigate. No one, including the media, did. Last year, media reported that the FBI asked questions regarding “political motivations” about a moment that altered Virginia’s history. The Washington Post also editorialized.
“There’s also due process and the fact that Joe Biden is Joe Biden…” then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in April 2020 defending Biden after he was accused by former staffer Tara Reid of sexual assault (from 1993). With the press playing defense attorney, Biden survived. Due process shifts in importance based on who is accused. The instant assumption of guilt when Black men are involved, with no investigation, has been a constant for over 300 years. The rush to judgement directed at Fairfax in 2019 was in no way surprising. After the sensational headlines, his accusers have disappeared.
AG Miyares: Oliver Hill Externship Program + HBCU Students
Last week, Attorney General Jason Miyares completed his office's second annual Attorney General Oliver Hill Externship Program. The program is a special initiative that exposes HBCU college students to the law, in order to help diversify the legal field in Virginia.
The program features a week-long schedule full of meetings, tours, lectures, and panel discussions with accomplished lawyers and Office of Attorney General staff attorneys. This year, twelve students from Virginia Union University, Hampton University, Virginia State University, and Norfolk State University participated in the program and heard from speakers such as Governor Doug Wilder, Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin, and Old Dominion Bar Association President Solomon Ashby. Loudoun County attorney Phil Tompson and Norfolk family attorney Regis Rice participated in a panel discussion about small and independent law firms.
The HBCUS students also attended meetings with attorneys from large law firms, WilliamsMullin (hosted by Chuck James), Gentry Locke (hosted by Patrice Lewis), McGuireWoods (hosted by Michael Herring), and Troutman Pepper (hosted by Ashley Taylor). New this year, the program included presentations from Virginia law school representatives: William & Mary, George Mason, University of Richmond, and Regent's Law Schools. Of note, George Mason Law School Dean Ken Randall himself met with the students.
Virginia NAACP Responds to 2023 Report on Analysis of Traffic Stop Data Under Virginia’s Policing Act
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA – The NAACP Virginia State Conference (Virginia NAACP) acknowledges the findings of the 2023 Report on Analysis of Traffic Stop Data Collected under Virginia’s Community Policing Act. It continues to be alarming that Black drivers are 19.4% of the driving population but make up 30.4% of those who are stopped. The report findings are also alarming that Hispanic and Native American/Indian Americans are also stopped at a higher percentage than their population.
Robert N. Barnette, Jr., Virginia NAACP President, stated:
“Based on this report, it is clear that Black Virginians are stopped by police for traffic violations more often than other Virginians. This is not a one city or county problem, this is a problem across the Commonwealth. The Virginia NAACP is prepared to work with local police departments, sheriff departments, and the Virginia State Police to address this issue.”
The Virginia NAACP’s commitment is to work with law enforcement agencies to ensure transparency in training and recruitment and to review its diversity, equity and inclusion policies and training. The Virginia NAACP will continue to fight against unfair policing and work towards ending structural racism in our justice system.
UPCOMING:
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