Last month, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who serves as Vice Chair of President Trump’s Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, requested extensive election data and confidential voter information from all 50 states. Under the guise of investigating “widespread voter fraud” in the 2016 election, the Commission requested a list of all registered voters, their addresses, date of birth, voting histories, political affiliations, and the last four digits of their social security numbers. On a bi-partisan basis, this request has not been received well.

Medicaid is a federal-state partnership that covers health care for poorer children, the blind, aged and disabled. It has grown because fewer employers provide coverage, increased assistance for the severely disabled, and aging baby boomers--Medicaid covers two-thirds of our nursing home population. In Virginia, Medicaid is a 50-50 match and, at 22 percent, is the second largest spending category in the State budget after K-12 education. Despite this growth, Virginia is ranked 47th in the nation in Medicaid spending.