Virginia is one of twenty-one states in which the voter registration form doesn’t ask the voter to choose a party (that includes North Dakota, which does not even have voter registration). According to this story, both the Virginia Governor, Robert McDonnell, and the Lieutenant Governor, Bill Bolling, favor switching Virginia from a state without registration by party, to a state that has registration by party. Both McDonnell and Bolling are Republicans, and the legislature has a Republican majority.

The Virginia legislature is more active in even-numbered years than in odd-numbered years, so it is plausible a bill to make that change will pass during 2012, although of course it would not take effect until 2013.

The story also notes that the Virginia Republican Party will meet on January 21 and may scrap the “loyalty oath” administered to voters in the Republican presidential primary of March 6.