Virginia’s new “convention ban” outlaws the ability of political parties to choose their candidates through their own conventions and instead virtually requires them to use taxpayer-funded primary elections where voters from the opposing party can interfere in the candidate selection process. Now, a local Republican Party is challenging the law as an unconstitutional violation of its First Amendment right to free association.
The Republican Party in Lynchburg has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Virginia Department of Elections, the State Board of Elections, and the commissioner of the Department of Elections, challenging the ban.
Veronica Bratton, chair of the Lynchburg Republican City Committee, the official name of the Republican Party in Lynchburg, stated in a news release: “With the convention ban law taking effect, the state of Virginia requires…
