Getting on the ballot is not easy for candidates under normal circumstances.
It’s now becoming a very difficult hurdle for candidates across Virginia.
Many candidates have already collected all the signatures they need to get on the ballot this year. But many have not, and now they’re trying to figure out how they’re possibly going to ask strangers for signatures in the parking lot of a grocery store.
Kristin Reed with the political advocacy group Richmond For All says the solution is electronic ballot signatures. “It’s true that we are facing some perhaps legal or bureaucratic obstacles," Reed admits. "But I do think that one of the things we are seeing at the state and the municipal level is a lot of rapid-fire action to try to help advance the core interest of democracy.”
But electronic signature collection isn’t exactly the same thing as traditional signature collection, says Frank Shafroth at George Mason University. “It would favor those who are more internet literate and had more money to do that kind of outreach, which would go against everything the U.S. system is set up to do, which is one person one vote. But this would say one electronic person one vote but one non-electronic person is not quite the same standard.”
The only way to change the law on ballot signatures this year would be if the governor call lawmakers into a special session.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
