The party originally planned to proceed with an in-person convention instead of a primary. This was partly a wink to the #StopTheSteal crowd—how can you plan to hold a state-run primary when your party is spouting off lies about how bad election integrity is? But it was also an attempt by party leaders to shiv Amanda Chase, who occupies an unsweet spot: MAGA enough to have a chance of winning a state primary but too kooky to win in the general. Initially, it was floated that the convention would be—where else?—Liberty University, again in Lynchburg. Meaning that if you wanted to vote for one of these candidates, you had to drive there. If you live in Ewing, Virginia, on the state’s western tip, that’s a ten-hour round trip. From Winchester, the northern tip? Six hours. Virginia Beach, the eastern tip? Eight hours. Chincoteague Island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore? Nearly eleven hours. A lot of driving for people who don’t all come from Amanda Chase country. The Virginia GOP obviously decided to rethink this plan. (Officials at Liberty University were reportedly surprised at the idea, too, having not been consulted about hosting the convention.) So the plan was changed to have 39 locations throughout the state where people could drive and vote. By way of comparison, the June 2019 Democratic primaries had 3,375 polling locations; in 2020, they had 2,245.