State Delegate Dick Black said this week he will introduce legislation to identify candidates by party on general election ballots. Black made the announcement after meeting with Governor James Gilmore.
Complaints and apparent confusion at the polls here earlier this month led some republican leaders to ask for a legislative remedy. Betsy Mayr, Secretary of the Electoral Board of Loudoun County, said voters now have to "run the gauntlet" of volunteers in an attempt to determine party affiliation through the use of sample ballots.
"There was a problem in the Broad Run election district this year because there were two different Republican sample ballots, which confused voters," she said. In a statement released by Black, Mayr said the legislation would eliminate the need for sample ballots outside polls. She added that voters are "frustrated because election officials are not allowed to tell voters what party a candidate represents.
Black will also introduce a bill to allow voters to register by party. He said this would "help prevent one party from corrupting the outcome of the other's primary processes." Some Republicans complained that Democrats turned out in force in the Republican primary in which "slow growth" Republican Scott York defeated incumbent Republican Board Chairman Dale Myers.
