hburgnews.com

Lately I’ve been writing about disenfranchised voters in Harrisonburg, but a reader just drew my attention to a story in the Northern Virginia Daily about a very different sort of registration problem: people that could potentially vote twice on election day.
More than 5,200 Virginia voters are also registered in other states, and of those 120 [...]

I just came across this video of JMU student Matthew Benoit telling the story of how and why his voter registration form was rejected by the Harrisonburg registrar’s office. This is another example of a young voter being disenfranchised in the city.
There’s a story in today’s DNR about the rejection of Charity Amison’s registration. [...]

In case the opinions of unknown newspaper editors hold sway over your vote, The DNR, The News Virginian and The News & Advance have endorsed Bob Goodlatte for re-election to his position as 6th Congressional District Representative, while The News Leader and The Roanoke Times have backed challenger Sam Rasoul.

Only about a month ago, McCain had a 9-point lead in the Shenandoah Valley Region of Virginia. As of October 26, 2008, McCain’s lead here was only one point - McCain 47%, Obama 46%, according to SurveyUSA.
The close race in the Valley was underscored by Barack Obama’s visit to Harrisonburg yesterday, during which Obama noted [...]

Impressions, links to pix, advice. Your adventure.
Joe and Deb

There were rumors that students would be camping out in the Convocation Center parking lot and sidewalk last night, in anticipation of long lines today, but Alex Sirney and Nicole Martorana scoped it out and this is what they found:

A reader informs me that folks at the Gemeinschaft have posted a video tour of the home, made by the residents. It’s a 25 minute commitment (there’s an encode error toward the end) but it gives insight into what the Gemeinschaft does and what it means to the men who live there.
The state has [...]

Last week, Lynchburg’s News & Advance reported that Harrisonburg had the second highest job growth in the state from August 2007 to August 2008.
Winchester added 1,600 jobs for 2.8 percent growth, and Harrisonburg added 1,700 jobs for 2.7 percent growth.

Yesterday’s Washington Post reported that, due to a new system of voter registration, thousands may have been unfairly rejected.

A reader sent me a scan of the rejection letter they received from the Harrisonburg registrar’s office.

The Gemeinschaft transitional therapeutic community has been granted an extension on its previous December 9 deadline to close due to statewide budget cuts.  It now has until January 25, an additional 45 days.
Supporters of Gemeinschaft plan to hold a march to Court Square next Saturday, October 25.  It will begin at noon at the Gemeinschaft [...]

Last month I wrote about Virginia registrars giving new registrants controversial warnings. Now that the registration deadline has come and gone, a new concern has arisen: the rejection of voter registration forms.

In what CNN ”Situation Room” anchor Wolf Blitzer is calling “stunning news”, the CNN Election Tracker map just moved the traditionally-Republican state of Virginia out of “toss-up” status into the “leaning Obama” category.
“Virginia hasn’t gone Democratic in 44 years,” said Alan Silverleib, CNN senior political researcher. “But a number of polls — including our own — [...]

As reported here earlier this week, producers from Al Jazeera English have been looking for local undecided voters. Tonight, the international news channel will be broadcasting reactions to the presidential debate tonight, live from Clementine. The broadcast is part of their coverage of the U.S. presidential elections, focusing on swing states.
The previous three debate-watching parties [...]