Do Virginia Democrats Really Want To Turn Churches Into Vote Harvesters?
SB5120 is designed to help third-party groups like ACORN harvest Democratic votes. Throw us in that brier patch (please).
When the press has grown tired of the chicanery of this special — and we mean special — session in Richmond? You know that nothing good is going to come out of it.
The litany of horribles is almost too long to count.
SB5084 would not only establish community policing boards, but if you happen to have a mental issue or drug related issues? You go to a psych ward; healthy lawbreakers go directly to jail. Just be sure to use drugs in the commission of your next crime, fellas…
SB5032 would reduce the penalty for assaulting law enforcement or first responders to a misdemeanor. Advocates of the bill claim that the laws should carry the same penalty for a police officer as anyone else (without realizing that state lawmakers enjoy similar if not greater protections while in session).
SB5120 has to be a personal favorite though. The bill authorizes third party “vote harvesters” to gather up mail in ballots ACORN style (something previous Virginia State Board of Elections opposed as voter fraud back in 2011).
Of course, you see the play. Democrats send you reminders to register, you receive your ballot, and then in order to guarantee your vote? You have to send it back via courier to a drop off facility.
This raises a rather interesting question, because as the bill is written today, just about anyone can be a vote harvester.
. . . including churches.
Talk about being hoisted on one’s own petard.
Imagine the following scenario. Picture your 5,000 strong Christian service on Sunday with throngs of concerned Christians being advised of their mail in ballots by helpful third party organizations. Pastors offer to serve as a collector of ballots in conjunction with <insert evil conservative and/or Christian organization here> and those ballots are carefully and considerately delivered to the appropriate registrar.
Fun fact: almost 40% of evangelical Christians don’t vote. Imagine if just evangelical Christians (forget my fellow papists) were able to increase their vote margins by even a fraction of that number?
So congratulations to the Democratic-controlled Virginia State Senate.
I like the rules of this game.
Meanwhile, the Virginia General Assembly has been collecting per diem checks for the last week and has accomplished nothing.
Amateur hour indeed. One would think that if the special session was so pressing that Virginia Democrats might have observed regular order.
Instead, House Democrats seem to be making it up as they go along, while Senate Democrats are showing all their face cards at once. No way to run a ship of state, folks.
Shaun Kenney is the editor of The Republican Standard, former chairman of the Board of Supervisors for Fluvanna County, and a former executive director of the Republican Party of Virginia.