Virginia is subject to the Voting Rights Act because it spent treasure and resources reducing the right of people to vote. 

So now having been forced to give up poll taxes and literacy tests, the state Board of Elections has decided to find another route to reduce voting — handwriting on absentee ballots. 

All ballots should be counted so long as the voter intent is clearly marked, whether the date is there or the handwriting of the signature is hard to read.  My signature is impossible to read but that is my signature and how dare the board attempt to exclude my vote on such grounds. What? Doctors can't vote absentee because election boards can't read their handwriting. 

Didn't the board get the message when it was sued over failing to count absentee ballots correctly and was scolded by a federal court judge for failing to do its job, I believe that occurred twice. 

Why would the board members wish to be labeled as segregationists again? Gov. McDonnell claimed this was a New Dominion. Is this how the board supports his efforts to create a state where inclusion is a primary value, as he declared. 

Nothing is more evil than not counting ballots in an election and creating policies to allow crabby bookkeepers like the deputy registrar who claims the date is a material exclusion. Absentee voters are part of the electorate and any attempt to exclude them is  disservice to democracy. 

Joann Henry