Northam also signed bills sponsored by Lindsey and Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, to make Election Day a state holiday. The measures repeal the state Lee-Jackson holiday.

Virginia has marked a state holiday for Lee’s birthday since 1889. It added Jackson to the Lee holiday in the early 1900s.

In the mid-1980s, the state began marking the federal holiday to civil rights martyr Martin Luther King Jr. on the same day, as Lee-Jackson-King Day. In 2000, Gov. Jim Gilmore, a Republican, called for splitting them into separate holidays.

Northam has put a particular emphasis on racial inequities since the blackface scandal erupted in February 2019 and prompted many Democratic lawmakers to call for him to resign.

The governor also signed bills sponsored by Herring and Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax, to allow early voting 45 days before an election without requiring an excuse. Virginia currently requires voters to give the state a reason why they cannot vote in person on Election Day, such as a work, family or school obligation or a trip out of town.