April 21: Referendum Day
It's time to vote, Virginia!
Hello from Wittman Watch HQ! 👋
Instead of a myth-of-the-week, we have something even more important and urgent today. 🇺🇸 ✅
Quick links
You already know that April 21st is the last day to vote in the Virginia referendum on whether to allow the legislature to redraw Congressional district maps for the midterm elections in November.
If the referendum passes, a lot may change: VA-01 will be reshaped entirely, and all candidates — including Rob Wittman — will need to decide in which new district they will run. On Thursday we’ll have a round-up of all the post-referendum results and changes, including any info about Wittman’s intentions.
This is the first of three elections in Virginia this year:
Tomorrow, April 21 — Special statewide referendum
August 4 — Virginia Democratic Party primary (there is no Republican primary because no other Republican is running against Wittman)
November 3 — U.S. federal elections for the House of Representatives and Senate
We’ll get to the August and November elections in a minute. First, let’s make sure you know how to vote tomorrow!
Very exciting referendum voting instructions
We hope you’ve already registered to vote, and encouraged your family and friends to do the same. If not, all is not lost! If you’re an eligible voter, you can register and vote at your polling place. (Remember that in Virginia, 17-year-old U.S. citizens who’ll be 18 by November 3rd are eligible to vote in this referendum as well as the August primary!)
If you need to register at the polls, you’ll follow the “provisional ballot” process, which means you’ll finalize your registration within a certain time period after Election Day. The volunteers at the polling place will walk you through it.
If you haven’t already voted early or submitted a mail-in ballot, you’ll want to head to your local polling place between 6am and 7pm on April 21st. As long as you’re in line by 7pm, you’ll be able to cast your vote. Note that your polling place is NOT the same as the early-voting location. You can find your polling place right here.
Once you know where to go, make sure you have an acceptable form of ID to take with you. This does NOT have to be a photo ID; check the list to see what forms are permitted. Then remember to take your ID with you! You will be required to present your ID at the polling place.
Before you head out, take a minute to understand the background on the referendum, so you can vote the way you believe is correct.
If you have space in your car, ask your neighbors if they’d like a ride to the polling place with you. Then head on out! The volunteers at the polling place will help you cast your vote. If you have accessibility needs, they’ll help you use curbside voting. You’ll get an “I voted!” sticker and an internal glow of pride, knowing you’ve done your part to guide the future of the commonwealth.
Seems like a pretty sweet deal, right?
The fun doesn’t stop on April 21st!
After the referendum results are tallied, the midterm election campaigning can start. Here are the dates for the Democratic Party primary and the midterm elections:
To prepare for those, here’s what you need to do.
Register to vote!
If you didn’t register for the referendum vote (or if you don’t register and vote tomorrow), you can still register for the two remaining elections. All the instructions are here. You can do it online or at multiple convenient locations across the state. Remember that 17-year-olds who’ll be 18 by November 3rd can register to vote now, and can vote in any elections between now and the November general election.
Encourage your family and friends to register to vote!
Make it a party - have a coffee or hardier beverage, grab your laptops/phones, and get it done. Or go do it in person, together. Get prepped to exercise your democratic rights as U.S. citizens!
Help get candidates on the ballot!
Candidates can’t just ask to be on electoral ballots. They need to get signatures on petitions to show the community supports their candidacy. There have been, and will continue to be, multiple petition-signing events - so look out for those and ensure a strong field of candidates are on the ballots. (This only applies to the Democratic primary this year.)
Vote early - in person!
Early in-person voting is tremendously convenient. All the info is here. You can vote early at many locations across the state (generally a central location that is not your Election Day polling place). These elections are run by your local registrar, and this site lets you find contact details for those excellent people if you have any questions.
Vote early - by mail!
Won’t be in town on Election Day, or just want to get this done now? No problem: request your absentee ballot and submit it early. You can request your absentee ballot right here.
Find out where to vote in person!
The polling place finder makes this simple. Enter your details and it’ll tell you exactly where to go on Election Day.
Vote on Election Day!
If you haven’t voted early in-person or by mail, you can stroll up (or drive up and use curbside voting if you have accessibility concerns) to your local polling place on Election Day and cast your vote. As long as you’re in line by 7pm, you’ll be able to cast your vote. You’ll get a sticker, a glow of satisfaction, and the knowledge that you’ve done your part and exercised your right as an American citizen.
Remain watchful on your voting rights
There are moves afoot to make voting more complicated via the so-called “SAVE America Act” and “Make Elections Great Again (MEGA) Act.” We analyzed the whole situation in February. Wittman has already voted for the SAVE America Act, and he’ll likely do the same for the MEGA Act, because they each skew the Republican Party’s chances of winning to a possibly insurmountable degree. These costly and unnecessary acts address a nonexistent voter fraud problem. They’d eliminate mail-in voting, and would jeopardize the votes of the military, married women, and elderly, disabled, rural, and overseas Americans. The SAVE America and MEGA Acts should not be passed by Congress because they rip away people’s voting rights for no reason. Tell your representatives that!
Now go vote! 💪
Voting is vital to the health of our democracy. Forgoing the right to vote may sometimes be unavoidable (for time, money, or health reasons - though, for now, there are options to vote more easily in all of these circumstances). Choosing not to vote means you are allowing other Americans to decide how your life will be governed. Not voting is like letting random strangers order your meal at a restaurant: you may end up with a tasty meal, but it most likely won’t be at all what you’d prefer - and if you have specific needs, it might even kill you.
Vote in the referendum, and post your “I voted!” sticker pictures in our comments!