By Sam Brown, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. — Early voting starts Sept. 22 and stakes are high for both parties, with all 140 seats open in the state General Assembly.

Republicans have pushed to take advantage of early and absentee ballots ahead of the Nov. 7 election. The party's support for early voting is a shift from recent years. 

Gov. Glenn Youngkin called for early voting in a video released by the state Republican Party through its new initiative Secure Your Vote Virginia. The program encourages Republican voters to vote early and sign up for the permanent absentee list, which allows voters to vote by mail for all future elections. Youngkin also promoted early voting in his gubernatorial race.

"We can't go into our elections down thousands of votes," Youngkin said in the video. He will travel through key districts on a bus tour to stump with candidates and promote early voting.

Republicans in the Virginia House of Delegates introduced and passed House bills 1444 and 1947 in the last session, which attempted to eliminate the permanent absentee list, in favor of an annual application. The bills did not pass in the Senate. 

The strategy is something Republicans should have done for past elections, according to Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at the University of Mary Washington.

"Gov. Youngkin has recognized that Republicans have been at a huge disadvantage with early voting over the last several election cycles and the governor is moving aggressively to try to reduce that early participation gap that has so strongly favored Democrats in recent years," Farnsworth said.

Early and absentee voting has spiked since the 2020 presidential election due to the pandemic and several legislative changes. The total number of absentee ballots increased by over 2.6 million from 2019 to 2020, according to state post-election reports. A record number of people voted absentee, according to spokesperson Andrea Gaines with the Virginia Department of Elections.

Absentee voting numbers have remained higher than pre-pandemic numbers in every general election. Almost 1.2 million absentee ballots were cast in 2021. Last year, over 990,000 absentee ballots were cast. Though there was a downward trend, the absentee votes were still more than double the combined numbers from 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Recent state changes that make voting easier, and the convenience of absentee voting, will keep future absentee voting numbers higher than in pre-pandemic elections, Farnsworth said. There is no doubt that the new system is convenient and popular with voters, he said. 

"People like the idea of not having to wait to the last minute," Farnsworth said. "People don't know, something might come up — a kid might get sick, they might be stuck in traffic, they may have to work late."

The partisan gap in early and absentee voting has favored Democrats since 2016, data shows. Democratic voters made up over 60% of early votes in the 2022 election, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Democrats vote early by mail. Nearly 76% of mail votes were returned by Democratic voters within three weeks of Election Day in 2021, according to a VPAP graphic.

Look Ahead America, led by executive director Matt Braynard, is a national organization pushing to increase voter registration and absentee voting. Look Ahead America's primary focus is its voter turnout project for the 2023 Virginia General Assembly election, according to Braynard.

The organization identifies as nonpartisan and is not engaged in turnout on the basis of party, according to Braynard. The group has shown support for people charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection and referred to them as "political prisoners" in the description of its "Jobs for #J6" project that helps now-unemployed people who participated in the insurrection to find work. The riots centered around recognition of the legitimacy of votes in the 2020 presidential election.

Early and absentee ballots are a more secure and convenient way of voting, and can help track participation, Braynard said. 

"It's very expensive sending you mail and sending you door knockers and reaching out to you know via phone and texting and digital," Braynard said. 

Look Ahead America supports the Virginia permanent absentee list.

"The way I see it is that the more people encourage folks to vote — by any means necessary, and probably the easiest way would just [be] to get on Virginia's permanent absentee list — the better," Braynard said. "I'm glad to see more people of all political stripes join the conversation to encourage that."

Early voting begins in Virginia on Friday, Sept. 22. To submit an early ballot in-person, voters should check registration status and visit the local registrar's office with an acceptable form of identification. Some districts have additional early voting satellite locations that can be found on the state elections website.

To vote by mail, voters should download and complete the absentee application form available on the Virginia Department of Elections website. A mail-in ballot must be postmarked on or before Election Day and be received by the general registrar's office by noon on Friday, Nov. 10.

Many polling places will have weekend hours closer to Election Day. The last day to early vote in-person is Saturday, Nov. 4. 

By Ryan Nadeau, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. – Advocates worry more Virginians could experience food insecurity if Congress cannot pass an updated farm bill or emergency appropriation.

Nutrition programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, often referred to as food stamps, are funded through a piece of federal legislation often called the farm bill – which covers focus areas from crops and livestock to rural development and access to food. SNAP makes up about 80% of its funding.

Several farm bill programs are slated to expire at the end of September. Eddie Oliver, the executive director of the Federation of Virginia Food Banks, stated in an email that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed SNAP benefits will be distributed in October regardless of a farm bill's passage.

"My understanding is that the authorized spending levels remain in effect," Oliver stated.

The USDA helped appropriate emergency funding for the SNAP program in 2013 until Congress passed that farm bill. Such intervention could potentially occur now if this deadline is not met, but Oliver stated the future beyond October is still unclear – and expressed concerns over a potential government shutdown affecting benefits.

Increase in benefits need, and food costs

Just under 850,000 Virginians received SNAP benefits in June, according to the USDA. This means about 30,000 additional persons have enrolled since June 2022.

"There's really nothing more essential to the basic well-being and dignity of a family than having enough food to put on the table," Oliver said.

SNAP benefits in 78% of U.S. counties cannot cover the cost of a moderately priced meal, according to a 2022 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study. 

"No one can truly live well off of the SNAP program," Oliver said. 

A recent Urban Institute study found the average cost of a meal in Richmond is $3.54, whereas the average amount a SNAP recipient can spend on a meal is $2.73 – leaving a 30% gap families still need to fill.

SNAP benefits are meant to cover 9 out of 10 meals, while food banks take care of one, according to Oliver. However, this has not been the case as of late, as lacking benefits are not able to keep up.

"While food banks and food pantries are an essential part of the solution, we can't do it all," he said.

The farm bill is usually bipartisan, as its extensive reach can be felt by all, Oliver said. However, there is growing concern that the legislation may be delayed or experience funding cuts due to debate between lawmakers – such as a Republican legislator saying the SNAP program needed to be "curtailed" due to being "one of the largest government handout programs."

Oliver stated there is no available text for the 2023 Farm Bill at the time of this report, and some lawmakers expressed frustration to him about it. The farm bill is "one of the most important pieces of legislation" and represents a "holistic approach" to food access, according to Oliver. 

The reality for Virginians is that this legislation, should it be slowed or its funding for SNAP altered, will have local effects – and struggling food banks will feel it, according to Oliver.

"The slightest cut to the SNAP program will fall on us," Oliver said.

Food banks bridge growing gap

Food banks statewide attempt to bridge the gap between where hunger begins and government assistance programs end. But many representatives say the strain on food banks is taking its toll.

Nearly 300 new families have visited the Colonial Heights Food Pantry since July 1, according to Warren Hammonds, its executive director and only full-time employee. Many are homeless or experiencing emergencies.

 "I wish we didn't have to feed this many families," Hammonds said, but he is glad they can help meet needs.

The "ugliness" of food insecurity has grown worse in recent years, according to Hammonds.

"It's almost painful to get a hug and have people just bawl, crying on your shoulder after you give 'em food because they didn't know what else to feel," he said.

The food pantry used to provide for about 3-5 homeless families a month. Now, nearly 20 families visit each week, something Hammond said reflects a "terrible" and "daunting" reality.

"Sometimes I use the word 'sobering,'" he said. "Sometimes I just cry about it."

Many homeless families receive temporary housing within local hotels, where they likely do not have access to a stove or other means of food preparation, according to Hammonds, who said the pantry spent an additional $10,000 in the past year to help meet their unique food needs. 

"We have the resources today," Hammonds said, "but we may not have the resources in a year."

At least half a million dollars in additional funding is needed to feed food insecure Virginians, based on 2021 data from Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks. Rising inflation and growing food costs make this deficit harder to address, with the U.S. Consumer Price Index for food rising over 4% since last August – on top of an 11% jump the previous year.

Breanne Armbrust, executive director of the Neighborhood Resource Center of Greater Fulton in Richmond, said community organizations like hers are often nonprofit and function entirely off of its own community's donations.

Government assistance programs could be significantly improved to better serve Virginians, Armbrust said.

"More often than not, people that make policy-making decisions do not have the lived experiences of people that need to access these services," Armbrust said.

The Fulton resource center, among its many programs and functions, helps families apply for services like SNAP. 

The process can be lengthy, confusing and even impossible for some without a helping hand, Armbrust said. Not everyone has access to a home computer or transportation to their local social services office. The hours of work a family might put into an application could still only result in benefits as low as $27 a month, Armbrust said.

"Imagine if you didn't know where you were gonna get your food from, and you don't know how you're gonna pay your bills, and what that does to a person," Armbrust said. "Then you expect them to jump through a bunch of hoops to maybe get a benefit."

These services need to become more accessible, especially because of how easy it is to find oneself in this situation, Armbrust said.

"It's not 'these people over here' that are receiving benefits," she said. "It could be any of us, and it very well may be all of us one day."

By Sahara Sriraman, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. – A Virginia Commonwealth University professor and a partner are developing a new THC breathalyzer that could be used to quickly detect if someone is driving under the influence of cannabis.

VCU professor Emanuele Alves, who has a doctorate in forensic science, partnered with Wagner Pacheco, who has a doctorate in inorganic analytical chemistry and is an associate professor at Universidade Federal Fluminense. Pacheco traveled from Brazil earlier in the year to help develop the breathalyzer.

The device would offer immediate results and produce fewer false positives, according to Alves. Law enforcement and employers could test within a certain window of time for impairment that many tests, such as urine or hair analysis, do not offer. A blood test can track cannabis use within a 3-4 hour time frame, but is not a viable driver impairment option. Current THC breathalyzers take hours to achieve results. 

The VCU-developed breathalyzer will also distinguish between THC and CBD presence in someone's system, which have different effects. CBD does not get a user high and is often sold as supplemental or personal care products. 

The device will produce a change in color if a person has THC in their system and a different color for CBD, according to Pacheco.

"Our expectation is that this THC breathalyzer could be so useful for society as it is the alcohol breathalyzer," Pacheco said.

Law enforcement would be able to identify on-site if a driver is under the influence of THC. The breathalyzer could improve road safety by holding drivers accountable for driving impaired, Pacheco said. It is illegal to operate a vehicle while impaired.

The goal is to have the first prototype of the THC breathalyzer complete by 2025.

JM Pedini, development director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, said they do not agree with the development and eventual use of THC breathalyzers.

Studies have failed to prove that the presence of THC in breath is an indicator of either impairment or recent cannabis exposure, Pedini said. NORML has argued against the expansion of drug detection testing, and advocated instead for performance-based tests to determine someone's sobriety. 

Examples include the DRUID test, which is an app that measures cognitive and motor functioning to test for impairment. The test measures such things as the person's reaction time, hand-eye coordination and balance. The measurements are then calculated and an impairment score is provided.

One reason NORML does not support THC breathalyzers is because the packaging of CBD products does not always accurately reflect its contents, according to Pedini.

"Because of the lack of regulatory oversight on products that are called CBD, a consumer may be of the belief that they are buying a product that contains just CBD when, in fact, it actually contains THC," Pedini said.

The VCU Police Department issued 20 DUIs in the past year, two of which "indicated the presence of some drug or narcotic," according to police Detective Frederick Wiggins.

Colorado was the first state to legalize recreational cannabis. Almost 80 deaths were reported in 2021 that involved a driver who had more than the allowed limit of THC, according to Axios Denver. 

Richmond Police did not respond to requests for comment. 

VCU Police complete field sobriety test training to help identify impairment and then can use other tests "to determine beyond that," according to Wiggins.

There are still many steps before the breathalyzer is read for the market. 

"The VCU Police are constantly evaluating new equipment and I would personally say that any new tool that is evaluated and found could be useful would be of use to officers in any capacity," Wiggins said.