The VLW Blog

According to the numbers, Democrat Tom Perriello now has the slimmest of leads over incumbent Republican Virgil Goode in the back-and-forth vote count battle for Virginia’s 5th congressional seat.  But the numbers differ depending on the source, as reported by WVIR. We’re told there are still provisional ballots to be considered in Charlottesville. By Peter [...]

[Read more →]

One of the candidates for next year’s state attorney general election says it’s time for Virginia to adopt early voting. Roanoke lawyer John P. Fishwick Jr. says Virginia should join the 30 or more states that currently allow unfettered early voting.  (Virginia does allow early voting by absentee ballot, but absentee voters must swear under [...]

[Read more →]

If you’re not on Republican Attorney General Bob McDonnell’s political e-mail list, you might have missed his take on the election. After the perfunctory congratulations to and pledges to work with the winners, he acknowledges, “Yesterday in Virginia was a tough one for our Party.” Perhaps most interesting is his reference to the “wise counsel” [...]

[Read more →]

The Supreme Court of Virginia has adopted three multijurisdictional practice measures more than two years after the Virginia State Bar Council first recommended them to the high court. The court suggested revisions to the initial proposals, and the VSB sent the reworked provisions back to the court earlier this year. One is a new Rule [...]

[Read more →]

As the dust starts to settle at last in the seesaw battle in Virginia’s 5th Congressional district, Republican incumbent Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. appears to have claimed a narrow victory. How narrow?  The latest vote totals from the State Board of Elections show the Rocky Mount lawyer with a 145-vote edge over Democratic challenger [...]

[Read more →]

President-elect Barack Obama carried Virginia last night, 52-47 percent; he is the first Democrat to do so since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. How did your city or county vote? Take a look at the handy election widget we posted from MSNBC on the home page. You can check the official results from the State Board [...]

[Read more →]

The Maryland Court of Appeals, that state’s highest court, heard an unusual argument on Monday. A public defender ignored the respectful opening, “May it please the court…” and simply asked the judges, “What’s up?” The nonplussed chief judge corrected him, noting the proper pronunciation is “Whassssup?” a la the popular Budweiser ads from the late [...]

[Read more →]

U.S. District Judge Richard L. Williams ordered Virginia officials to protect any overseas ballots arriving after 7 p.m. on Election Day pending the resolution of a lawsuit filed by the McCain campaign. William H. Hurd, a Richmond lawyer representing the McCain campaign, said that some jurisdictions in the state did not send absentee ballots out [...]

[Read more →]

People with disabilities have a heightened interest in selecting the candidates who will govern the programs that the disabled depend on.  Nevertheless, some advocates say that one class of disabled people — those with mental disabilities — are too often discouraged from registering or voting. On the other hand, some question the propriety of actively [...]

[Read more →]

A special prosecutor appointed to handle grand jury charges of official misconduct by four members of the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors decided to drop the entire case.   On the motion of Assistant Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney Catherine Dodson, Substitute Circuit Judge Thomas S. Shadrick last week dismissed all charges against the supervisors. In July, [...]

[Read more →]