Action alert: register your OPPOSITION to party ID bill

The bill that will require political party identification on local ballots for candidates nominated by a political party was reported by the House Privileges & Elections Committee by a 13-8 voteon March 4.  SB 767 (Suetterlein) will be on the House floor next week.

Who to contact:  Your member of the House of Delegates.  The link to the delegates is here:https://lis.virginia.gov/161/mbr/MBR.HTM.
Talking points:

• This bill will affect most municipal elections.  There are only a few cities and towns that have charter provisions that specifically ban party identification on ballots for local candidates.
• Virginia is not at all unusual in having non-partisan municipal elections. Nationwide, about 70 percent of municipal elections are non-partisan.
• Injecting partisanship in local government and increasing the possibility of political bickering will not improve local government.

VML contact: Mary Jo Fields, mfields@vml.org