The sign outside of the Richmond Registrar's Office, Richmond, Virginia, on Aug. 1, 2023. The city electoral board voted on July 25 to limit in-person early voting to this location in northern Richmond, near the city limit.
Richmond voting site closures could make in-person early voting inaccessible to minority voters
Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO
The Richmond Electoral Board’s decision last week to limit early voting locations could force voters in majority Black precincts to travel more than two hours by public transit to cast their ballots ahead of election day, an analysis by the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO has found.
The Republican-led board on July 25 voted to close two early voting sites in downtown and South Richmond, leaving the general registrar’s office as the city’s only voting location until the Nov. 7 election. The new Republican majority on the board cited budgetary concerns for its decision, according to Axios Richmond, which first reported the move. Richmond City Council has already appropriated more than $100,000 to fund the two sites.
VCIJ analyzed the city public transit network and census data to assess how the board's decision might affect voters who lack access to reliable transportation — and found that the move could make early voting more difficult in communities of color.