Senate Democrats have effectively delayed new Republican voter identification restrictions for another year with Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling siding with them to break a party-line 20-20 tie.
Democrats amended a bill that eliminates utility bills, paycheck stubs and Social Security cards as valid voter ID to delay enactment until July 2014 because there's no funding to educate voters about the election law change.
When it resulted in a partisan deadlock Monday, Bolling voted without comment for the amendment.
It marked the first time since he withdrew his GOP gubernatorial nomination bid last fall that Bolling has broken a tie in the Senate. Bolling left the race claiming GOP conservatives stacked the deck for his party rival, Ken Cuccinelli.
Bolling has not ruled out an independent gubernatorial campaign.
