Cville Dems

The Charlottesville Democratic Committee

News

New Year Brings New VA Laws

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Here are a few highlights Del. Sally Hudson flagged last week:

Photo of statue of blindfolded Lady Justice holding the scales of justice

  • Thousands of Virginia workers got a raise as our minimum wage went up to $12/hr. Just two years ago, Virginia ranked dead last among Oxfam America’s worst states for workers. We’ve since climbed to the middle of the pack, as we’ve modernized the laws protecting workers’ wages and basic bargaining rights. There’s an awful lot of work still left to do, but this step is something to celebrate.
  • With wages going up, Virginia also cut taxes on the things we all buy most. The state’s grocery tax has ended, another step long overdue. Virginia was one of just 13 states left in the country that still taxed grocery sales, and those days are finally done. We still have local governments that rely on grocery taxes for revenue, so there’s more we can do to ease taxes on working families.
  • If you’re shopping in either Charlottesville or Albemarle County, be sure to bring a bag; there’s now a five cent tax on plastic bags.

[We got an update on this last one from the Sierra Club: you can donate your extra reusable grocery bags at Refill Renew, 171-B Allied Lane (off of McIntire Road) —or— at Dogwood Refillery, 190 Zan Road (off of Hillsdale Drive). More sites are being lined up. For info about the tax see the City of Charlottesville website.]

New Year Departures

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Two significant and regretful changes to announce:
  1. Sena Magill will be stepping down from City Council effective January 11th for family reasons (here’s the Daily Progress story). Thank you Sena for your excellent service in one of the toughest jobs we know of! And we fondly remember Sena’s generosity, positive outlook, and hard work as a Precinct Captain (as well as her homemade cookies!); Sena is one of a kind! [Note: City Council must appoint a replacement to serve the remainder of her term (through the end of 2023), and the City’s website has a link for people interested in applying for consideration here.]
  2. Ray Dueser has to step down as Co-chair of Walker Precinct because of his many other obligations. Ray has a long record of service beyond the call of duty, including many years of work to increase volunteer participation in his precinct, well-measured (and often pithy!) comments in committee meetings, and most recently helping with the Bylaws update. You will be missed at Executive Committee meetings, Ray!

REPORT: 11/28 Executive Committee Meeting

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There are important discussions going on about where how we vote in the city that will impact a large fraction of the city’s voters in 2023 and thereafter.

Precinct Redistricting

City of Charlottesville Registrar Taylor Yowell and Electoral Board member Ann Hemenway shared the City’s draft proposal for reformatting Charlottesville’s precincts with the goals of evening out the number of voters in each precinct and increasing functionality, i.e. walkability, parking, etc. Around 40% of city voters would be in a new precinct. Alumni Hall (high-traffic accessibility problems) and Tonsler (inadequate space and parking) precincts would be replaced by Charlottesville High School and Jackson-Via.

 

Update on Ranked Choice Voting (RCV)

Delegate Sally Hudson explained that, due to electronic voting equipment limitations, City Council won’t have the ability to use RCV in the 6/2023 primary, but could authorize its use starting as soon as the 11/2023 general election. Sally asked the Executive Committee to consider having the Full Committee pass a resolution telling City Council whether we support or oppose an ordinance authorizing RCV for City Council elections.
It’s likely that the Cville Dems will need to have additional meetings and/or communications re: RCV and regarding the process of nominating candidates soon.
Sally shared a document with some of her perspectives on RCV:

Reflections on the November General Election

Josh Throneburg campaign poster showing Josh, his wife, and two children standing in a meadow

Josh Throneburg reported that he and his team are doing an after-election report to analyze what worked well and what didn’t; Josh is committed to staying involved to try to build in all of those areas for the future.

The campaign’s budget was much smaller than it had been for the previous two Democratic campaigns in the district, and so the campaign couldn’t reach as many voters as it needed to. Josh also indicated that the party needs to build up its infrastructure if we want to have success in the Fifth; some counties barely have a functioning Democratic committee, and the party’s network in rural areas is weak. His team is creating some briefing materials and other infrastructure so our next 5th District candidate won’t have to start from ground zero as his campaign did.
[As co-chairs Dashad and John previously posted on social media a million “thank yous” to Josh Throneburg, his staff, his family, volunteers & donors. We didn’t win, but we put out a positive message of Democratic values, compassion, and common sense. Josh has our party’s gratitude and great respect, and we salute him for leading our good fight!]

Post-Election Day Polling Place Update

Electoral Board member Jim Nix reported that 53% of active voters voted in the past election, only down 3% from last year’s gubernatorial race. The new electronic poll books worked very well. Same-day registration/voting on election day was a major change this year: 950 provisional ballots were cast (901 were certified and counted), nearly all were done on election day itself and, as expected, most were from students. This was even more provisional ballots than expected and led to a lot of stress on Carver and Venable poll workers, issues that will be addressed.

RIP Rep. Donald McEachin

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photo of Rep. Donald McEachinRichmond’s very highly-regarded and well-liked House of Representatives member Donald McEachin passed away on Monday 11/28.
The Richmond Times Dispatch ran this remembrance.
Our sympathies to his family and friends.