Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe says he’ll be actively promoting measures in this year’s legislative session aimed at strengthening the state’s ethics rules and making it easier to vote, priorities that will likely face a difficult path forward in the GOP-controlled General Assembly. McAuliffe said Tuesday he also supports legislation to ban lawmakers from using their campaign accounts for personal use, calling the move a necessary complement to a $100 gift cap that lawmakers approved earlier in his term. “There has been a gigantic, gaping hole in our ethics reform here in the commonwealth of Virginia,” McAuliffe said, promising to “lean in” on the issue even though it faces dim prospects.
… The governor also wants to allow for in-person early voting as well as increase the reasons why a person, including those after children, can vote absentee by mail.
McAuliffe was joined by his wife, Dorothy, to promote the legislation. “As the very blessed mother of five children, all of whom were under the age 10 at one point, I know how difficult it can be, whether caring for one child or many, to get to the polls and stand in line to vote,” Dorothy McAuliffe said.
The governor also wants to repeal the state’s voter ID law, which he said limits voting accessibility and is unnecessary because “there is no voter fraud” in Virginia
Full Article: Governor promises to “lean in” on ethics, voting legislation | Virginia | pilotonline.com.