VCC Magazine Summer 2017

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Virginia C apitol Connections, Summer 2017 5
By David Bailey
Twenty-eight years ago, (1989) to write a haiku, I penned the
words that became the title for the new directory of candidates.
Elect No Strangers!
If possible, elect friends.
If not, make friends of those elected.
Every year since 1990 David Bailey Associates has published
Elect No Strangers to help interested Virginians become better
most highly regarded in the United States.
Even as Virginia is rated among the top three states in the
nation in election administration and voter registration, there are
still obstacles to overcome. It wasn’t until 2016, that Virginia
finally made all local election offices full-time, allowing all
Virginia Citizens equal access to registration and elections services.
Local administrations still don’t know how to classify the General
Registrar, and too often elections are overlooked, and underfunded
acquainted with candidates for statewide offices and the General
Assembly.
Our staff reaches out to every candidate, and most of them provide
photos and information. However, if there is no response we include
the information from the Virginia Department of Elections and or the
Virginia Public Access Project. We always receive assistance from
the Democratic and Republican Caucus staff.
The candidates are listed in the order that they will appear on the
ballot for the statewide offices and the House of Delegates. Prior to
60 days before the November election, party nominees that withdraw
may be replaced by new candidates.
Official information regarding the November election is available
from local registrars and from the Department of Elections web site,
elections.virginia.gov. An excellent source for campaign information
is the Virginia Public Access Project,
As we say, the directory includes all the ‘winners’—all of those
who will be elected to serve. This will be correct until there’s another
successful candidate who duplicates Jackie Stump’s 1989 winning
write-in campaign for the House of Delegates. If you do not know the
history of Stump’s election, you are missing an interesting aspect of
recent Virginia political history.
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KNOW AND BE KNOWN
for other priorities. I’ll get into that next time.
Yes, we’ve come a long way, baby, but there’s still a long way
to go.
Tracy Howard has served as the General Registrar/Director of
Elections for the City of Radford since 1992 and is President of
the Voter Registrars Association of Virginia.
A brief history continued from previous page
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