From Virginia comes this story, highlighting the tension between voters’ interests in privacy and candidates’ interest in reaching voters. A state legislative subcommittee has voted to close off all access to voter history lists. Those lists — indicating the elections in which voters participated but, obviously, not how they voted — are presently available only to elected officials, candidates, and party chairs. A nonprofit group seeking to boost turnout sued in December, arguing that their exclusion is unconstitutional. The subcommittee agreed that the lists should be made available to everyone or no one — and a majority opted for no one. If this becomes law, it will presumably become more difficult and expensive for candidates and parties to reach voters. I wonder whether other states have taken similar action.
Update: Richard Winger reports here that the full committee has now voted to table the bill.