Dear Friend,
It is my hope that you have persevered through the wet and hurricane seasons and are enjoying the fall weather and the many special weekend festivals featured in our metropolitan area.
A quick reminder that Election Day is on Tuesday, November 6, 2018.
City of Richmond Ballot:
Member United State Senate:
Corey A. Stewart – R
Timothy M. Kaine – D
Matt J. Water – L
Member House of Representatives – 4th District
Ryan A. McAdams – R
A. Donald McEachin – D
Peter J. “Pete” Wells – L
Chesterfield County Ballot:
Member United State Senate:
Corey A. Stewart – R
Timothy M. Kaine – D
Matt J. Water – L
Member House of Representatives – 4th District
Ryan A. McAdams – R
A. Donald McEachin – D
Peter J. “Pete” Wells – L
Member House of Representatives – 7th District
Dave A. Brat – R
Abigail A. Spanberger – D
Joseph B. Walton – L
Commonwealth’s Attorney *Special Election*
John F. Childrey
K. Scott Miles
If you do not live in the City of Richmond or Chesterfield County, you can find out who is on your ballot by visiting: https://www.elections.virginia.gov/voter-outreach/voting-info-tool.html
Constitutional Amendments (statewide):
Question 1: Should a county, city, or town be authorized to provide a partial tax exemption for real property that is subject to recurrent flooding, if flooding resiliency improvements have been made on the property?
Question 2: Shall the real property tax exemption for a primary residence that is currently provided to the surviving spouses of veterans who had a 100 percent service-connected, permanent, and total disability be amended to allow the surviving spouse to move to a different primary residence and still claim the exemption?
I plan to vote “yes” on both amendments. You can find more details about them here: https://www.elections.virginia.gov/election-law/proposed-constitutional-amendment-2018/index.html
In addition, I support our incumbents Senator Tim Kaine and Congressman A. Donald McEachin, as well as candidates for House of Representatives 7th District, Abigail Spanberger, and for Commonwealth’s Attorney, Scott Miles.
If you cannot vote on Election Day, you can complete your in-person absentee ballot application up to three days before Election Day, which would be on Saturday, November 3.
To cast an in-person absentee ballot, you will need to visit your local registrar’s office, which can be found here: https://vote.elections.virginia.gov/VoterInformation/PublicContactLookup
On Tuesday, November 6th, polling places with be open from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Remember: Anyone in line at 7:00 p.m. will be allowed to vote.
All polling places must be fully accessible to elderly voters (65 and older) and voters with disabilities. However, if you need it, curbside voting is available to you.
Virginia law requires all voters to provide an acceptable form of photo identification at the polls. If you do not have this with you at the polls, you will be required to vote a provisional ballot and you’ll have until noon on the Friday following the election to deliver a copy of identification to your locality’s electoral board for your vote to be counted.
Acceptable forms of identification for in-person voting include:
Valid Virginia Driver’s License or Identification Card
Valid Virginia DMV issues Veteran’s ID Card
Valid United States Passport
Other government issued photo identification cards (must be issued by US Government, the Commonwealth of Virginia, or a political subdivision of the Commonwealth)
Tribal enrollment or other tribal ID issued by one of 11 tribes recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia
Valid college or university student photo identification card (must be from an institution of higher education in Virginia)
Employee identification card containing a photograph of the voter and issued by an employer of the voter in the ordinary course of the employer’s business
If you feel that your right to vote has been violated, please document your complaint by contacting your voter registrar or local electoral board.
For the City of Richmond:
Office of the General Registrar
J. Kirk Showalter
804-646-5950
For Chesterfield County:
Chesterfield Registrar’s Office
Constance Tyler
804-748-1471
For more information about how and where to vote as well as to find out who is on your ballot, visit www.elections.virginia.gov.
Enrollment for Medicaid Expansion
Starting on November 1st, individuals who meet Virginia’s new income criteria will be able to submit their application for Medicaid. Coverage begins on January 1, 2019. Visithttps://www.coverva.org/expansionfor information on eligibility and other important details.
Redistricting
As you may know, the Courts ruled 11 districts, including the 69th, to be unconstitutional based on racial gerrymandering, which illegally reduced the voting strength of black Virginians. Maps were introduced from both sides of the aisle. The Democrats’ plan was killed in committee and the General Assembly was set to vote on the Republicans’ map on October 21st, but the special session was cancelled. Because the House of Delegates could not reach an agreement and was set to miss the court-ordered October 31stdeadline, the maps will be drawn by a special, nonpartisan expert hired by the Courts. The three-judge panel appointed Bernard Grofman, who is an economics and political science professor at the University of California, Irvine. Grofman also helped redraw Virginia’s congressional districts in 2015. The judges expect to have a draft of the maps available by December 2018 and finalized by March 28, 2019. Another redistricting will take place after the decennial census in 2020.
Legislative Reporting
The Division of Legislative Automated Systems (DLAS) has released a checklist of special and periodic reports to the General Assembly. If this is of interest to you, you can access this list athttps://rga.lis.virginia.gov/reports2018-2019.pdf. The 72-page documents details reports ranging from the Capitol Square Preservation Council to food safety and restaurant inspection programs to solar energy. If any report summary interests you, you can request a copy of the report by e-mailingreportdocs@dlas.virginia.govand identify by report number (e.g. 5, 79, 323, etc.) the reports you wish to receive.
On the Road and Distance Learning with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Sixty-five years after the launch of the original Artmobile, the VMFA celebrated the opening ofVMFA on the Road: An Artmobile for the 21stCentury.The inaugural exhibition is called How Far Can Creativity Take You?featuring VMFA Fellowship Artists.
The VMFA discontinued its Artmobile program in the early 1990s, but as part of a renewed commitment to statewide outreach, they began exploring ways to revive the program. The Museum received an 18-wheel tractor-trailer with 640 feet of display space, previously used by the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission. The current Artmobile exhibition has three sections: An introduction to VMFA and its unique history; in-depth video interviews with the featured artists, VMFA curators, and educators; and a modular interactive studio for visitors. The Artmobile will visit Richmond from January 24-26. As a former VMFA staff member in statewide programs, I am happy that an artmobile will once again be traversing our state. For more information and tour dates visit:https://www.vmfa.museum/exhibitions/vmfa-on-the-road/
With the Evans Distance Learning Program, students and teachers can video-conference with a VMFA educator for a “virtual field trip” of their Richmond campus. Exploring on-view works of art, students are invited to make personal connections with objects while expanding their understanding of topics they are exploring in the virtual classroom. The programs serve grade 6-12 and community college audiences. Each session lasts approximately 45 minutes. Feel free to pass on this opportunity to your teachers and schools, who can book sessions by visiting:www.vmfa.museum/learn/distance-learning
High School Students Can Learn to Fly
The Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC), in partnership with the Commonwealth of Virginia, Liberty University, Averett University and the Virginia Department of Aviation, is offering flight academies at no cost for high school students statewide. The Pathways Flight Academies will immerse students in learning to fly while discovering the range of exciting aviation career opportunities available. Four, two-week residential academies will be offered during the summer of 2019 for selected students who have shown an interest in and passion for Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM), and have career aspirations to become a pilot. During the program, students will undertake ground school and flight training that can culminate in their first solo flight at the end of the academy.
Qualified applicants must be U.S. citizens, Virginia residents, and 16 years old by the start of the Academy. They must also be able to pass an FAA flight physical exam upon acceptance into the program. Twenty-four students will be selected. The demand for aviation jobs is extremely high. Sixty thousand new U.S. pilots will be needed in the next 15 years as well as 10,000 new U.S. air traffic controllers and 480,000 new aviation maintenance technicians worldwide by 2026.
The application deadline is January 25, 2019. Learn more about the Pathways Flight Academies and the application process at http://www.vsgc.odu.edu/pathwaysflightacademies.
2019 Legislative Session
The new session will begin on January 9, 2019. If you have legislative ideas or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. Already, I am working on bill drafts with several constituents You can call my office at 804-698-1169 or e-mail me at delegate.carr@betsycarr.org. Hearing from constituents like you helps me to better understand the issues and informs me in how I should vote. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Betsy B. Carr