McLean. Election night, 2006, was a rainy one in my part of Virginia. Traffic backed up for miles even on back roads, and commutes that normally took under half an hour were often an hour or more. At the precinct where I was working as an election officer, some voters didn't make it in the door by the 7:00 p.m. closing time. I spent several minutes comforting one would-be voter, who had battled to get there through the rain and the clogged roads, and now was utterly crestfallen at having missed her chance to participate in democracy.

This doesn't have to happen. Maybe we can't do anything about the weather, and solutions to traffic problems don't seem to be coming any time soon, but a simple legislative fix would help voters like the woman at my precinct. SB 920, a bill that just passed the Virginia Senate and will be taken up in the House as early as this week, would remove the excuse requirement from absentee voting for those voters who vote in person during the absentee voting period. With this small change, Virginia can increase the opportunities for all voters to participate in our elections.

Currently, Virginia voters may vote absentee only by claiming one of nine excuses, including not just several different categories covering an anticipated absence on Election Day, but various hardships that range from disability to a work and commuting schedule that takes up at least 11 of the 13 hours the polls are open.

THESE ABSENTEE provisions do allow many citizens to vote who might otherwise be unable to, but they don't allow you to guess whether your commute home will take an extra hour due to weather or traffic. They are also the source of much confusion among voters, and even within the political parties. For example, during the 2004 election, workers from both parties told senior citizens that they were entitled to vote absentee because they had passed the age of 65. In fact, age is not among the excuses, and many seniors were then turned away when they showed up at registrars' offices seeking to vote before Election Day.

Senior citizens are some of our most dedicated voters, but many find it hard to navigate the lines and election machines, and would rather vote at leisure before-hand. Others who need assistance getting around may not have help on a Tuesday. Why do we make this hard?

They aren't the only ones who would benefit from eliminating the excuse requirement. Business travelers often don't know their schedules sufficiently in advance to ask for absentee ballots. Low-wage workers often can't control their work schedules and don't know them in advance. Long hours, long commutes, and unexpected travel plans have become normal for Virginia workers, and our election procedures should accommodate this new reality.

ELIMINATING the excuse requirement for voters who show up in person to vote absentee will prevent all these problems and make absentee voting as straightforward as voting on Election Day. It would also encourage absentee voters to vote in person rather than by mail, reducing the concerns about fraud or coercion that are sometimes raised in the context of mail-in ballots. The added costs should be minimal, because registrars' offices are already open and staffed to accommodate in-person absentee voters who currently vote with excuses.

No-excuse in-person absentee voting will take Virginia one step closer to the goal of ensuring that every eligible voter has the opportunity to cast a ballot. The House of Delegates should pass SB 920 for the sake of all Virginia voters.