This Monday is the last day Virginia residents can register to vote in the 2009 general election, so if you live in Virginia, make sure to have your application in the mail by then. Also, we have a brief update from some of the House of Delegates races making news this week:

• HD-10: Democratic House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong -– who also serves as the DLCC’s Finance Chair -– juggles a lot of responsibilities, but his constituents back home always come first. Armstrong has been fighting a proposed utility rate hike for over a year – he’s lobbied the state utilities commission, held interactive town halls, and even organized a letter-writing campaign against the increase, noting that “People are hurting and the last thing they need is another rate increase.”
  
  

• HD-25: After Republican Delegate Steve Landes’ shaky debate performance last week, it appears he’s had enough. Landes is ducking a forum co-hosted by the Staunton News-Leader, complaining that the paper is too biased. That’s a pretty flimsy excuse, since the News-Leader endorsed both George W. Bush and former Republican Sen. George Allen in recent elections. More likely, Landes is just afraid he'll have to defend his record again.
  
  

• HD-86: Democratic challenger Stevens Miller has a new ad taking Republican Del. Tom Rust to task for breaking a promise to require insurers to cover autism treatments. Rust campaigned on the issue, but then he voted against it. Blue Commonwealth has the ad, and they also dug up some incredible video of Rust refusing to even move the bill out of committee.
  
  

• Student Voting: The Virginia Board of Elections has recently approved a new rule allowing college students to register to vote using their dormitory addresses. Some localities already allowed this, but now the standard will apply statewide. We encourage all students who want to vote from their school addresses to register, but be sure to do it by Monday!