Three Amendments Wait at the Bottom of Arlington's Ballot
They are written in legal shorthand and they bind like bedrock. What Virginia's three proposed constitutional amendments are doing on a midterm ballot, and how to read them before Tuesday.
Every Virginia ballot on Tuesday ends the same way: three questions, each asking whether the Constitution of Virginia should be amended. They get less attention than the races above them and outlast everything else on the page — constitutional language does not expire with a term.
An amendment reaches your ballot only after the General Assembly passes it in two separate sessions with an election in between, and voters have the final word. The ballot prints a condensed summary; the Virginia Department of Elections publishes the full text and plain-language explanations of what yes and no each do, and five minutes with those explanations is the difference between voting and guessing.
Arlington voters can read their exact ballot — amendments included, in the order they will appear — on the state Citizen Portal tonight. Virginia allows notes and marked sample ballots in the voting booth, so there is no prize for memorizing: decide at the kitchen table, carry it in on paper.
However the three questions land on Tuesday, the outcome becomes part of the state constitution when certified. The candidates above them will serve a few years. The amendments serve until another generation of voters changes them — which is the best argument for reading the full text before you fill in the bubble.