According to reporting from The Washington Post, Virginia’s new Republican Governor has a little problem on his hands already. Election officials in the state told them that Glenn Youngkin’s 17-year-old son tried unsuccessfully to vote in the election twice, but was turned away both times.

Apparently, civics lessons are not strong in the Youngkin household.

That’s not a surprise, given that so many Republicans are seriously lacking in knowledge of how democracy works. Glenn’s four kids are presumably no exception to the rule.

The teenager went to the Great Falls Library to cast a ballot. Upon seeing his driver’s license, poll worker Jennifer Chanty told him he had to be 18 to do so. He left, but returned within the half hour to try again, saying that a friend his same age had been able to vote.

I told him, ‘I don’t know what occurred with your friend, but you are not registered to vote today. You’re welcome to register, but you will not be voting today.’

It could be his eligibility to pre-register before turning 18 that had the young man confused. He may even have tried to vote in the primary election. Laws in Virginia allow minors to do so if they will be of legal voting age by the time of the general election.

In fact, it seems the young man was utterly confused to begin with — he wasn’t even in the precinct where his family lives and is registered to vote.

A spokesman for Youngkin denied that the teen had actually tried to vote, saying he had only asked if he was eligible. The spokesman said that the boy had “honestly misunderstood Virginia election law.”

But the law requiring a person to be 18 in order to cast a ballot in a general election is a federal one, not one that’s specific to Virginia.

Compounding the irony, Youngkin himself, during the primary, had formed an “Election Integrity Task Force” of Virginia citizens in order to “ensure free and fair elections in Virginia.” It took until the summer for Youngkin to publicly acknowledge that Joe Biden had legitimately won the 2020 election.

It doesn’t appear that Youngkin’s son actually violated any laws in Virginia, since he didn’t end up casting a ballot on either attempt. But the newly-elected governor of a swing state should probably sit his kids down for a little lesson on how he got his job.

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