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Virginia House GOP again kills voting rights, gay marriage proposals

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — House Republicans have defeated measures that would let voters decide whether to amend Virginia’s constitution.

One of the measures voted down in a subcommittee early Tuesday would have set up a referendum on whether to strip legally outdated language prohibiting gay marriage from the state Constitution.

The other would have let voters weigh in on whether to automatically restore the voting rights of felons who have served their terms.

The votes against the joint resolutions were not surprising because the same panel defeated House versions of the measures earlier this month. But Democrats and other supporters had urged them to reconsider.

Help and assistance programs for furloughed federal workers in the DC region

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