Virginia to be First Southern State with its own Voting Rights Act

[Frodo]

Virginia's Declaration of Rights (originally drafted by George Mason) was an inspiration to Thomas Jefferson as he was writing the Declaration of Independence -I'd like to think our Voting Rights Act would serve as a similar model to our sister states in the region:

Virginia is set to become the first southern state with its own voting rights act. Here’s what it does:

When the federal Voting Rights Act passed in 1965, Virginia was one of nine states that drew special attention due to its history of racist election laws. That burden was lifted in 2013, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided enough time had passed that Virginia and other states could stop following an old rule requiring federal permission for changes that might affect minority voters.

With the future of federal voting protections now in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority, Democrats in the General Assembly have passed their own version of a voting rights act, making Virginia the first state in the South to do so.

The proposed law, now awaiting Gov. Ralph Northam’s signature, creates broad new protections against voter discrimination based on race, color or language. With Republicans in dozens of states looking to restrict voting access after former President Donald Trump’s loss, supporters of the Virginia legislation see it as a decisive move in the other direction.

[brucejoel99]

Almost seems weird to remember that Virginia is actually a Southern state.

[Suburbia]

Almost seems weird to remember that Virginia is actually a Southern state.

Yes, Virginia is a Southern state, it is on it's way of being one of the bluest states in the South; this is not George Allen or even Bob McDonnell's Virginia anymore....

[If my soul was made of stone]

Almost seems weird to remember that Virginia is actually a Southern state.

It's really taken off in this century, but I think that people tend to overlook how early Virginia began growing apart from the rest of the ex-Confederacy with the physical and cultural growth of the Northeast megalopolis. Note how the 2016 election in the former Confederacy was the mirror image of 1976.

Needless to say, this legislation is an excellent step forward but one that I imagine that even a lot of solidly Democratic states might be a bit wary of, such as my own. Somehow the Virginia Democrats have accomplished more admirable progressive policies with their extremely recent trifecta than Maryland Democrats have in ages despite having a stranglehold on both chambers of the legislature for over a century, usually large enough to override the concerns of Republican governors.

[Del Tachi]

Almost seems weird to remember that Virginia is actually a Southern state.

It is certainly more Southern than Florida, lol

[pbrower2a]

Virginia has basically seceded from the South. Missouri has joined the South.

[Sol]

Virginia has basically seceded from the South. Missouri has joined the South.

Lol Virginia is basically the definitional Southern state and will always remain so, for as long as the South is a meaningful concept.

[Big Abraham]

Virginia has basically seceded from the South. Missouri has joined the South.

Voting Republican and bordering the South is the bar for being considered Southern now? In that case, throw Indiana and Kansas in there too.

[brucejoel99]

Almost seems weird to remember that Virginia is actually a Southern state.

It is certainly more Southern than Florida, lol

You've clearly never been to rural North Florida.

[jamestroll]

Almost seems weird to remember that Virginia is actually a Southern state.

Between this, the death penalty repeal being signed, Medicaid expansion, it is the best southern state! Until Georgia inevitably becomes more Democratic to to slightly more favorable demographics.

[Roronoa D. Law]

Virginia has basically seceded from the South. Missouri has joined the South.

Lol Virginia is basically the definitional Southern state and will always remain so, for as long as the South is a meaningful concept.

Most of the people saying Virginia isn't part of the South are people who are not from the South. I feel like a lot of people are using an outdated definition of the South but if that's the case we are slowly moving towards the definition of the South being Alabama, South Carolina, Tennesse, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida above Gainsville, and Mississippi. Minus Atlanta, Charleston, Nashville, and Athens.

[brucejoel99]

Virginia has basically seceded from the South. Missouri has joined the South.

Lol Virginia is basically the definitional Southern state and will always remain so, for as long as the South is a meaningful concept.

Most of the people saying Virginia isn't part of the South are people who are not from the South. I feel like a lot of people are using an outdated definition of the South but if that's the case we are lowly moving towards the definition of the South being Alabama, South Carolina, Tennesse, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida above Gainsville, and Mississippi. Minus Atlanta, Charleston, Nashville, and Athens.

[Progressive Pessimist]

This is a good workaround if...when HR 1 and/or the John Lewis Act never get passed. I hope more states follow suit but that would involve Democrats having a trifecta in more of them which will never happen either in most of the country's states.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

The state that housed the capital of the Confederacy was, is, and always will be part of the South. I don't care if Democrats start clearing 60% of the vote statewide here because of NOVA alone. Basic geography and history doesn't care about voting trends.

Needless to say, this is encouraging. Virginia's on path to lead the rest of the South on voting rights and drug reform. The magic of a D trifecta, folks.

[It’s so Joever]

Just because a state didn’t fit into some negative connotations with the South doesn’t make it a Northern State.
The South has had their share of racial issues (to say the least) but that does not mean trying to amend those very issues goes against being Southern.
Virginia still holds the true Southern identity and blood. Just like Germany didn’t stop becoming German because they have tried to make amends for their awful actions in the past, Virginia does not lose their culture by trying to fix longstanding issues.
Richmond is still the heart of the South (which by the way, includes African Americans as an integral part of the culture)
When we say things like this, we permanently force the word “Southern” to have a negative definition, but places can change politically and still retain their culture. (NoVa is debatable but even DC proper still has some Southern characteristics)

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Virginia has basically seceded from the South. Missouri has joined the South.

Lol Virginia is basically the definitional Southern state and will always remain so, for as long as the South is a meaningful concept.

Most of the people saying Virginia isn't part of the South are people who are not from the South. I feel like a lot of people are using an outdated definition of the South but if that's the case we are slowly moving towards the definition of the South being Alabama, South Carolina, Tennesse, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida above Gainsville, and Mississippi. Minus Atlanta, Charleston, Nashville, and Athens.

No, of course not. The South has nothing to do with partisanship or conservatism. But it does refer to a cultural, geographic, and economic region centered along the Raleigh-Atlanta corridor. Which Virginia is not a part of.

[Motorcity]

Virginia is not a southern state

It’s southern historically and geographically. If you use these measures than yeah it’s a southern state.

But most people don’t. Most people use culturally, political, and financially definitions. In which case, it’s not a southern state. It’s part of BOS-WASH now

Same how people don’t consider central and southern Florida southern anymore

[Badger]

Maybe not entirely relevant to this discussion, but remember that Virginia was the sole Confederate State to not vote for Carter in 76.

[Roronoa D. Law]

Virginia has basically seceded from the South. Missouri has joined the South.

Lol Virginia is basically the definitional Southern state and will always remain so, for as long as the South is a meaningful concept.

Most of the people saying Virginia isn't part of the South are people who are not from the South. I feel like a lot of people are using an outdated definition of the South but if that's the case we are slowly moving towards the definition of the South being Alabama, South Carolina, Tennesse, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida above Gainsville, and Mississippi. Minus Atlanta, Charleston, Nashville, and Athens.

No, of course not. The South has nothing to do with partisanship or conservatism. But it does refer to a cultural, geographic, and economic region centered along the Raleigh-Atlanta corridor. Which Virginia is not a part of.

Agree to disagree. If anything it's America's Eastern Europe where everyone's definition of "The South" is different and Virginia is Czechia.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Good move from Virginia Democrats.

[Del Tachi]

Talking about Virginia as a "non-Southern" state is laughable when you stop to remember that there are still plenty of living Virginians who experienced the absolute worst of Jim Crow.   20th century Virginia had a much more cruel system of racial segregation and disenfranchisement than states like Arkansas, Tennessee and (yes) even Florida.

Almost seems weird to remember that Virginia is actually a Southern state.

It is certainly more Southern than Florida, lol

You've clearly never been to rural North Florida.

Northern Florida is very clearly Southern, but Florida as a whole is much too Latino and non-WASPy to be "more Southern" than Virginia.  Virginia is the literal birthplace of American slavery and the Southern planter aristocracy; Florida is Mickey Mouse and Cuban food. 

[KaiserDave]

This whole "Virginia isn't southern" thing is very weird. Look at a map!

[Sirius_]

Hot take, crazy idea here: Some parts of Virginia are southern and others are not. The border between north and south doesn't have to follow state lines!

[Badger]

Hot take, crazy idea here: Some parts of Virginia are southern and others are not. The border between north and south doesn't have to follow state lines!

The real border between north and south isn't the Mason-Dixon line, it's I-70.

[Non Swing Voter]

Incredible how much time has been wasted dissecting whether or not Virginia is a southern state.

Obviously it's a southern state.  It's literally part of the South. 

Its populatio (the areas where most Virginians live) however, no longer resembles the South culturally or politically.  It's part of the cosmopolitan south.  People in Northern Virginia and to a degree the Richmond suburbs are more like people in New Jersey and Connecticut than people in rural Virginia. 

It hit a tipping point a decade ago where the people in these areas aligned with African Americans and college towns became the majority of the state.  Fin.