Released: Wednesday, August 26, 2020

ONE Voice for Liberties Conference – September 24-25, 2020

Our annual conference is almost here, and we’re excited to see you soon! This is a time where we rally with independent Baptists from around the state to learn how we can make our voice known at the capital! Register for the conference today at https://vaib.org/education/one-voice-for-liberties-conference/. This year you will be able to attend the conference in person or virtually through Facebook Live. Don’t miss this important event!

Elections are November 3rd, and we need to vote!

While November 3 is the day we vote in person, you can vote early starting 45 days (September 18) before election day, and you can register to vote through October 19. If you are registered to vote, go to your local registrar’s office with an acceptable form of ID and VOTE. 

You can go online to:

• Register to vote
• Check your registration status
• Find your polling place if you want to vote in person
• Apply to vote absentee by mail

Our voice matters, and our vote is critical! We need to encourage our church family to make sure they vote in this year’s election. The direction of our state is at stake.

• All eleven House of Representative seats are up for election. Only District 9 is uncontested: Rep. Morgan Griffith (Republican). All other races are contested.
• One US Senate seat is up for election. It is currently held by Democrat Sen. Mark Warner. He is being challenged by Republican Daniel Gade.
• There is one special election for the House of Delegates District 29 seat, which was vacated by Nick Freitas, a Republican. Freitas is running against Abigail Spanberger (Democrat) for the 7th district House of Representatives seat.

Proposed Constitutional Amendments

1. Creation of Virginia Redistricting Commission, which will be responsible for drawing congressional and state legislative districts. The goal is to remove this responsibility from the General Assembly and Governor to a sixteen-member commission. VAIB has no official position on this issue.
2. Allow for the automobile or pickup truck of a veteran who is one hundred percent permanently disabled due to military service to be free from state and local taxation. VAIB has no official position on this issue.

Special Session 2020 of the General Assembly

By the time you receive this letter, the special session may be have concluded. The General Assembly was called back into session on August 18 by the governor to (supposedly) reconsider the budget, to deal with COVID-19 issues, and to deal with criminal justice reform. For the first time, the Democrat-controlled House of Delegates “voted” to have a virtual session. Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn forced through the vote not to meet in person either for committee meetings or session votes. Some information-gathering meetings were held prior to the session. But for August 18-20, the House accomplished no actual work, while the Senate completed its work, voted on bills, and went home on Friday, August 20.

VAIB is disappointed that no one outside of the senators and delegates were allowed to attend any session or meeting in person. All committees were held virtually, so anyone giving testimony did so by phone. There were many complaints of calls being dropped or testimony being limited, preventing some from testifying. The majority of these bills failed in committee, which was a win for us!

I want you to know that I am praying for God’s safekeeping of you and your church. And I want to express my deepest thanks for churches and individuals who have been faithful to give to our ministry during these difficult times. I look forward to soon visiting churches and seeing you in person.

God Bless!

Sincerely,
Eddy Aliff
Executive Director

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