I never realized this before, but my old home town of Virginia Beach requires a person to apply for a permit request, and go through an approval process for the privilege to vote. Apparently you have to fill out a city request form and submit it to a city government agent. As with any government service, you have to pay a fee ($10) to have your request processed.

Surprisingly, you also have to give them a "reason" for your request. Assuming that all your ducks are in a row, (you don't have any felonies and have never been in trouble with the Virginia Beach Police), your request should be approved, and processed within a reasonable amount of time. Once you are approved by the government agent, (and your check clears) they will send you back a permit that allows you to vote in the next election.

The really galling part is that your permit is only good for the next election. You MUST go through this arduous process each and every time you want to vote. How can this be legal??

I would have thought this sort of treatment for merely exercising your Constitutional rights would be illegal, but apparently not. Wasn't there a court case about this decades ago??

Oops. My mistake. Virginia Beach only requires you to jump through all these hoops if you want to buy a gun, not to vote. It's an honest mistake.