Governor Kaine and Brian Moran: Disenfranchising the Voters in the 46th?

As you may have read in a prior post, Brian Moran has resigned from his Delegate seat, representing the 46th district. This may come as no surprise, but it seems odd that someone would step down in the midst of an important legislative session, so he could solely focus on the governor's race. Since his resignation, the method to selecting a Delegate would be done so through special election.

However, there is something fishy with this special election that we would like to highlight. It seems that Governor Kaine has set a special election date of January 13, 2008, so both parties are scrambling to find candidates and set nominating conventions in a hurry. This gives no time to find a solid candidate, who will best fit the district, and gives little time for fundraising and campaigning. Another surprising thing is that this is happening during the Holidays, and we know that it is difficult to get volunteers during the Holidays. To me, it appears that Governor Kaine has a degree in mismanagement of setting special elections and disenfranchising voters.

Tonight, there will be nominating conventions (or mass meetings) to choose the candidates for both parties. Hopefully, there will be enough time to get the campaigns together, establish fundraising, and have the necessary volunteers to make this race competitive and based on issues that are important to the voters in the 46th District.