Virginia Democrats Flip Control Of Legislature For First Time In Nearly 25 Years!

Virginia Democrats continued their winning streak under President Trump on Tuesday and took full control of the statehouse for the first time in more than two decades.

Democrats won majorities in both the state House and Senate in the marquee warmup for next year’s presidential election, the third election in a row in which they have made significant gains since Trump was elected.

“I’m here to officially declare today, November 5, 2019, that Virginia is officially blue,” Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam told a crowd of supporters in Richmond.

Of the four states with legislative elections this year, Virginia is the only one where control of the statehouse was up for grabs. Republicans had slim majorities in both the state House and Senate.

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The in-depth study examined 20 years’ worth of data about laws, dating back to the 1996 presidential election. The researchers concluded 48 other states make it easier than Virginia for voters to cast their ballot.

Voting is a guaranteed right of being a U.S. citizen, so you think it would be easy to cast your ballot and make your voice heard. In some states, that's the case; in recent years, legislators have worked to change laws to make it easier to vote.

According to researchers, Virginia is not one of them.

“Virginia has fallen as far as the ease,” said Michael Pomante, who is the co-author of the Cost of Voting Index. “They are now the second most difficult state to vote in.”

He explained some of the factors in the Commonwealth's ranking include:

Voters needing to be registered about three weeks before the general election
There's no early voting in the state
You need an acceptable excuse to vote absentee
You're required to show a photo I.D. to vote in-person.
“We find that states that have more difficult or more costly voting policies, fewer individuals actually show up to vote,” Pomante relayed.

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