HoodaThunk?

Gov. Kaine of Virginia has championed a couple of bills in the General Assembly that would remove the criteria assessment for Virginia’s absentee voting. At present, you have to be traveling on election day, suffering an illness requiring a hospital stay (or similiar), pregnant, etc. in order to qualify to vote by absentee ballot. Kaine’s bills, the so-called “no-excuse” voting bills, were tabled in committee. I’m not convinced they’re a good thing and, besides, they don’t appear to have the effect of getting people to vote, in any case:

Opponents say loosening elections laws won’t do any good. A December report from American University’s Center for the Study of the American Electorate found that of the 12 states with turnout declines in the Nov. 4 election, 10 allowed some form of “convenience voting,” a term that includes no-excuse absentee balloting and early voting. Of the 13 states with the largest increases in turnout, seven didn’t allow any form of convenience voting.

How about we make election day a national holiday and require people to be allowed a few hours off from work to go vote, instead?

Update: The State Senate’s version of this bill has passed committee, by the way. They passed it 10-4 with a recommendation to the full Senate. The failure to pass in the House, however, makes it unlikely we’ll see this law get sent to the Governor to sign.