Friday, August 7, 2026: Governor Spanberger marks 61st anniversary of Voting Rights Act by signing election security bills

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One pattern in history is that attempts to create long-lasting and self-perpetuating repositories of information most always have an end point. The Washington Star ceased publication on August 7, 1981 after 128 years. There’s likely a lot to be learned from that long history, but what about the future? Who will tell the stories of the time we are in now? Charlottesville Community Engagement knows its assignment and encourages others to rise to the challenge of figuring out who we are all together.

In this edition:

• Governor Spanberger signs legislation on election security on the 61st anniversary on the 61st anniversary of the Voting Rights of America

• Albemarle and Charlottesville remain under drought warning declared by the DEQ despite recent rains while drought emergency continues in Roanoke region

• We are in the midst of a sales tax holiday in Virginia with the levy waived on certain items to get people ready for school and natural disasters

• A brief look at recycling rates from the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority

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Whether you are planning ahead, navigating a recent loss, or are just curious about natural burial, we welcome the conversation. We host regular tours and community events throughout the year. At Panorama we are building new ways of understanding death, land, ecology, ritual, memory, and community. We believe that building community around death care helps us all to live fuller lives. We are open to the public daily 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Come visit!

Electoral boards all across Virginia are still processing the results of primary elections for U.S. Congress. As the canvass continued Thursday, Governor Abigail Spanberger honored the 61st anniversary of the Voting Rights Act with a ceremonial signing of bills intended to secure upcoming elections.

“In the decades since the Voting Rights Act became law, Virginia has made remarkable strides,” Spanberger is quoted in an information release. “Our democracy is strongest when every eligible citizen can participate — and I’m proud that the bills I signed today reflect that.”

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965 which prevented state and local governments from writing rules that restricted and suppressed Black voters, a common practice in many southern states for much of the 20th century.

“No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color,” reads Section 2 of the Act.

The ceremony also honored the 60th anniversary of Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections when the United States Supreme Court ruled that Virginia’s poll tax was unconstitutional. That practice would not allow a person to register to vote until they paid a fee.

Other similar cases had been consolidated into Harper including one filed by Evelyn Thomas Butts. Her daughter was on hand at the ceremony in Norfolk according to the release.

“My mother fought the poll tax because she understood that democracy fails when eligible citizens are prohibited from participating,” said Charlene Butts Ligon. “She also understood that winning a legal victory was not enough. After the court case, she continued registering, educating, and organizing voters. That responsibility now belongs to us.”

Legislation signed at the event is intended to strengthen voter protections.

• HB215 requires Virginia to be enrolled in the Electronic Registration Information Center. Former Governor Glenn Youngkin withdrew in 2023. Learn more in this VPM article. This passed the House of Delegates 63 to 36 and the Senate 21 to 18.

• HB319 and SB658 requires the Department of Elections to convene a work group to study automatic voter registration. HB319 passed the House of Delegates 61 to 31 and the Senate 21 to 16.

• HB773 extends the time someone has to correct a procedural mistake on an absentee vote, a process known as curing. This passed the House of Delegates 63 to 36 and the Senate 21 to 18.

• HB967 amends the Voting Rights Act of Virginia to strengthen language about voter dilution and voter suppression. This passed the House of Delegates 62 to 35 and the Senate 21 to 18.

• HB972 amends the rules for the voter registration list and requires registrars to notify someone if their registration is about to be canceled. We’ll likely hear more about this one in the future. This passed the House 64 to 34 and the Senate 21 to 19.

• HB1244 allows for someone to request an emergency absentee ballot if they are hospitalized. This passed the House 92 to 5 and the Senate 24 to 16.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has lowered the drought status for several parts of the commonwealth but the region that includes Albemarle and Charlottesville is still under the “warning” level.

However, some localities in the eastern portion of the Middle James Region such as Richmond and Henrico County are among those that have had their status lowered to the “watch” level.

Despite recent rains, the DEQ’s drought dashboard reports that the Middle James Region is at 73.83 percent of the normal amount of precipitation for the year. There’s also concerns about groundwater levels.

Localities still under a drought warning are the counties of Albemarle, Amelia, Amherst, Appomattox, Buckingham, Cumberland, Fluvanna, Goochland, Nelson, Powhatan, Prince Edward counties and the cities of Charlottesville, and Lynchburg.

The Roanoke River is under a drought emergency and a separate dashboard has been set up to monitor many variables including how the public water supply is being used.

Do you need more pencils? Do you need more books? Something to avoid showing the teacher a bad countenance?

The Commonwealth of Virginia is currently holding a sales tax holiday on certain items intended to encourage people to get ready for the school year as well as natural hazards.

“Virginia sales tax holiday helps you out with three types of purchase: school supplies, hurricane or emergency preparedness items, and certain products bearing the Energy Star or WaterSense labels,” says the narrator of a short YouTube video produced by the Virginia Department of Taxation.

That can save up to 5.3 percent and 7 percent of the total cost of a bill depending on what locality you are spending money in.

Qualifying items include clothing items and footwear, book bags, writing utensils and other school supplies. Some appliances are also eligible but only below a certain price point. See the details at the Virginia Department of Taxation’s website where you can review a 22-page set of guidelines for the sales tax holiday.

Under those guidelines, the event begins at midnight of the first Friday of the year and concludes at 11:59 p.m. on the following Sunday. Learn more on the Virginia Department of Taxation page.

One question to research: In future years, would this holiday also apply to any sales tax levied for the purposes of school construction?

The rolling topography of the Charlottesville area might keep some people away from choosing cycling as an option to get around. Perhaps an e-bike is in order?

That’s where Charlottesville’s eBike Lending Library comes in! E-bikes are a great way to get around the community but there are many brands and styles to choose from. Because many e-bikes are sold online, it can be a challenge to try an e-bike before buying one.

The Charlottesville E-bike Lending Library is a free, not-for-profit service working to expand access to e-bikes in the area. They have a small collection of e-bikes that they lend out to community members for up to a week, for free. You can experience your daily commute, go grocery shopping, or even bike your kids to school, and decide whether e-bikes are right for you. Check out this service for yourself!

This month the Thomas Jefferson Planning District is taking public comment on a draft solid waste management plan that must be submitted to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

Part of the draft plan simply describes all of the players involved with trash and refuse disposal.

“[The Rivanna Solid Waste Authority] provides solid waste and recycling services that support Charlottesville and Albemarle County, including regional drop-off recycling, household hazardous waste collection, special waste collection events, transfer operations, and related public information,” reads page 18 of the draft. “RSWA facilities are central to the urbanized portion of the planning unit and support regional diversion and safe disposal options.”

The RSWA Board of Directors consists of an elected official from each locality as well as city and county utility department heads. The Board meets every other month and last gathered on July 28. They learned from Executive Director Bill Mawyer that volumes are up this year at the Ivy Solid Waste and Recycling Center.

“The transfer operation at Ivy Solid Waste and continues to increase “ Mawyer said. “In comparison to June 2025, we’ve added about 50 tons per day in June of 2026, about a 23 percent increase. And we are staying under our daily permit limit of 450 tons.”

Last month the RSWA held a ground-breaking facility for a new piece of equipment that will expand the capacity to recycle cardboard and mixed paper. Mawyer said the agency processed about 2,300 tons last year and the new baler will allow that to grow.

“Not all of those will go through this facility, but a lot of them will,” Mawyer said. “The mixed paper, cardboard, the plastics and we run those through the two. We’ll have two baling facilities and 11 bays for the trailers to transport the bales away.”

Phil McKalips, RSWA’s solid waste manager, said the baling facility will give the public more opportunities to recycle.

“And that may include offering curbside, a place to do curbside receipt and act as a recycling transfer station,” McKalips said. “We could do that in this facility. There’s just a whole lot of things that can be done within that structure.”

According to the minutes from the May 26 meeting the baling facility had a cost estimate of $6.4 million but the actual price is closer to $5.8 million. Both Albemarle and Charlottesville contributed to the project.

About that solid waste plan? Visit the TJPDC website for a link to the draft and how you can add public comment.

Articles by other journalists you are encouraged to read next:

• Nelson County road project extended a second time, CBS19 News, August 5, 2026

• Valley Link opponents prepare for possible court fight, Heather Michon, Fluvanna Review, August 6, 2026

• North Anna power plant seeks ESP renewal, Nuclear Newswire, August 6, 2026

• Study estimates $1.7B cost to expand subsidized childcare, raise teacher pay, Megan Pauly, VPM, August 6, 2026

• Spanberger takes unprecedented step to intervene in $67B Dominion-NextEra merger, Markus Schmidt, Virginia Mercury, August 6, 2026

• Campaign to enshrine voting rights in Virginia Constitution kicks off in Norfolk, Charlotte Rene Woods, August 7, 2026

Four stories today and none of them were intensive to write. This has been a very full week and there’s a lot I have not gotten to yet. Shall I tell you what’s in the hopper still, or would that break the suspense?

Either way, there’s so much to get to in a given week and today is a day in which I need to get a radio version out. I’m fairly confident I don’t have too much work to do as I’ve already produced the audio for about half of it. I’ll get to that in a moment.

There’s a lot of work to get to and sometimes I can’t get to it. This is mostly the administrative stuff such as applying for a grant that I was invited to apply for. I can do that now that I have a way to receive tax-deductible contributions but I confess I don’t have the organization capacity to pursue much except the next set of stories.

In any case, there’s a lot of work to do and thankfully there’s music to keep us going. Yesterday I sat with a friend at a local establishment and we just read. I’m reading Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut and I’ve been stalled. The offer to just go somewhere and read for an hour was welcome and I finally got past where I had stalled.

In the book, one of the characters begins playing an album by Meade Lux Lewis called Cat House Piano. Turns out this wasn’t made up and Vonnegut used something from the real world. I felt connected to the characters in the book and felt connected to the moment. I would later hear the songs in my car on the ride home, streaming through Apple Music, and felt away from my work for a little while.

Of course, everywhere I look is a story. I can’t get to them all but I’m going to try to learn how to do what I can to explain to as many people what appears to be going on. Thanks to paid subscribers for helping me get to here.