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2016 SESSION
(SB767)GOVERNOR'S VETO
Pursuant to Article V, Section 6, of the Constitution of Virginia, I veto Senate Bill 767. In requiring party identification of candidates for local offices, the bill would unnecessarily inject an element of partisanship into historically nonpartisan municipal elections.
Since the adoption of the written ballot in 1870, the Commonwealth has not mandated the inclusion of party affiliation for candidates for local offices. In the recent case of Marcellus v. Virginia State Board of Elections, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia stated that “[t]he reduction of partisanship at the local level, the promotion of impartial execution of laws in local governance, and the expansion of eligible political candidates all present a legitimate and strong” reason to uphold this historic practice.
Senate Bill 767 would require that candidates for local offices be identified on the ballot by party. Party affiliation is not useful information when making decisions about purely local matters and would only serve to increase divisiveness in local government. We should be working to reduce partisan rancor, rather than creating new places for it to flourish.
Accordingly, I veto this bill.