Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam approved a bill on Friday that allocated $2 million toward prepaid postage for absentee ballots.

Atlanta and Detroit have already offered up their basketball arenas for use as massive polling places, and D.C. is now following suit.

Speaking to a small but enthused crowd in Freedom Plaza, Carol Schwartz officially launched her campaign.

Muriel Bowser won the Democratic primary election, but she faces a tough opponent in David Catania for the November general election.

In a decision that could add some complexity to the jostling for the special election for the D.C. Council Chair, the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics said today that candidates are free to run in both the regularly scheduled November election and the special election that will likely fall on the same day.

Another election is on the horizon, and there’s nothing you can do about it. (I know, we’re still recovering from the last one, too.) Early voting for November’s general election begins today at One Judiciary Square — meaning Vince Gray partisans don’t even have to wait until the man finishes his town hall tour to register their vote. We’re hearing reports that a smattering of Fenty write-in supporters are making their presence known at the voting center this morning, but it’s hardly sounds like anything on the scale of the first day of early voting in September’s primary, when Fenty and Gray supporters were dueling with megaphones and the such.

With less than a week left to register to vote in the general election for most area voters (the deadline in the District and Virginia is Oct. 6; Maryland is Oct. 14), the DC Board of Elections of Ethics released a reminder yesterday that electioneering laws apply to enthusiastic voters as well as campaign volunteers. It might seem obvious to most of you, but apparently some voters are confused on the issue:D.C. Municipal Regulations sections…