Voter procedures; voter shall be offered provisional ballot, etc. (SB1)

Introduced By

Sen. Steve Martin (R-Chesterfield) with support from co-patrons Sen. Dick Black (R-Leesburg), Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg), and Sen. Frank Ruff (R-Clarksville)

Progress

Introduced
Passed Committee
Passed House
Passed Senate
Signed by Governor
Became Law

Description

Voter identification requirements; provisional ballots.  Eliminates the provision that allows a voter to sign a sworn statement that he is the named registered voter he claims to be in lieu of showing identification and provides instead for the voter to cast a provisional ballot if he cannot provide a required form of identification. The bill also provides that, in order to determine whether a person who cast a provisional ballot is a qualified voter, an electoral board may rely on a faxed copy of a person's identification. The bill also removes a Commonwealth of Virginia voter registration card from the list of forms of identification that a voter can present to demonstrate that he is a qualified voter. Read the Bill »

Outcome

Bill Has Passed

History

DateAction
12/01/2011Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/12 12100190D
12/01/2011Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections
01/17/2012Assigned to P&E sub: Campaigns and Elections
01/31/2012Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (8-Y 7-N) (see vote tally)
01/31/2012Committee substitute printed 12104376D-S1
02/01/2012Incorporates SB55
02/02/2012Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/03/2012Read second time
02/03/2012Reading of substitute waived
02/03/2012Committee substitute agreed to 12104376D-S1
02/03/2012Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1S1
02/06/2012Engrossment reconsidered by Senate (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/06/2012Reading of amendment waived
02/06/2012Amendment by Senator Martin agreed to
02/06/2012Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute with amendment SB1ES1
02/06/2012Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/06/2012Pending question ordered (24-Y 16-N) (see vote tally)
02/06/2012Read third time and passed Senate (21-Y 19-N) (see vote tally)
02/06/2012Reconsideration of passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 1-N) (see vote tally)
02/06/2012Passed Senate (20-Y 20-N) (see vote tally)
02/06/2012Chair votes Yes
02/06/2012Printed as engrossed 12104376D-ES1
02/13/2012Placed on Calendar
02/13/2012Read first time
02/13/2012Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections
02/13/2012Impact statement from DPB (SB1ES1)
02/24/2012Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (15-Y 5-N) (see vote tally)
02/24/2012Committee substitute printed 12105643D-H1
02/27/2012Read second time
02/28/2012Impact statement from DPB (SB1H1)
02/28/2012Passed by for the day
02/29/2012Passed by for the day
03/01/2012Passed by for the day
03/02/2012Passed by for the day
03/05/2012Passed by for the day
03/06/2012Passed by for the day
03/07/2012Passed by for the day
03/08/2012Read third time
03/08/2012Committee substitute rejected 12105643D-H1
03/08/2012Passed House (64-Y 34-N)
03/08/2012VOTE: PASSAGE (64-Y 34-N) (see vote tally)
03/08/2012Reconsideration of House passage agreed to by House
03/08/2012Passed House (66-Y 31-N)
03/08/2012VOTE: PASSAGE #2 (66-Y 31-N) (see vote tally)
03/09/2012Enrolled
03/09/2012Impact statement from DPB (SB1H1)
03/09/2012Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1ER)
03/09/2012Signed by Speaker
03/10/2012Signed by President
03/12/2012Impact statement from DPB (SB1ER)
04/09/2012Governor's recommendation received by Senate
04/17/2012Placed on Calendar
04/18/2012Senate concurred in Governor's recommendations #1,2,4,5,6,7,10 (22-Y 17-N) (see vote tally)
04/18/2012Senate rejected Governor's recommendations #3,8,9 (7-Y 33-N) (see vote tally)
04/18/2012Reconsideration of Governor's recommendation agreed to (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
04/18/2012Senate concurred in Governor's recommendations #1,2,4,5,6,7,10 (21-Y 19-N) (see vote tally)
04/18/2012House concurred in Governor's recommendations #1, 2, 5, 7, 10 (61-Y 31-N)
04/18/2012VOTE: ADOPTION (61-Y 31-N) (see vote tally)
04/18/2012House concurred in Governor's recommendations #4 and 6 (52-Y 41-N)
04/18/2012VOTE: ADOPTION (52-Y 41-N) (see vote tally)
04/18/2012G Governor's recommendation adopted in part
04/18/2012Communicated to Governor
04/18/2012Reenrolled
04/18/2012Reenrolled bill text (SB1ER2)
04/18/2012Signed by President as reenrolled
04/18/2012Signed by Speaker as reenrolled
05/18/2012G Approved by Governor-Chapter 839 (effective 7/1/12)
05/18/2012G Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0839)

Video

This bill was discussed on the floor of the General Assembly. Below is all of the video that we have of that discussion, 25 clips in all, totaling 24 minutes.

Comments

VACOLAO, tracking this bill in Photosynthesis, notes:

VACOLAO opposes legislation like this that imposes unnecessary and burdensome additional regulatory or administrative requirements on Virginia residents, without any proven need for such burdens or corresponding proven positive benefit for the taxpayers or the community.

Laura Dely writes:

This bill represents a surge in voter suppression efforts coming from the Rebulican right.
Drivers Licenses, state issued ids, and passports are all out of reach of very low-income people. A locality-issued voter registration card should be good enough to use for id at the polls.
There is no credible evidence of voter fraud anywhere in the Commonwealth. I am a poll worker and can tell you that it's always been well-to-do types who need to swear in and cast a provisional ballot because they forgot their id. They are a very small percentage of voters.
But a very large percentage present their voter registration cards. If that became unacceptable, there would be many fewer low-income voters allowed to vote - that is like charging a poll tax.
Are Republicans so bent on getting votes that they would skew the eligible voting public to only those people who can afford state-issued ids, i.e. their voters?

tim writes:

Disenfranchisement is apparently the order of the day. Try using the dysfunctional Driver's license renewal methods pushed by the Commonwealth (which if you don't you will be fined) and discover that through no action of your own you are removed from the eligible voters roles. The processes in place aren't to protect anyone but rather to threaten and intimidate the Citizens when mistakes are made by the Bureaucracy. Our Legislators have done this to us. They haven't done this for us. There is no reason why a previously issued passport, even though date expired, isn't adequate identification to establish voter eligibility any more than a previously issued Drivers license picture Id should be ineligible simply because it has an arbitrary date which has passed. You had to produce the documentation that is behind the original issue whether it has an expired date or not. The absurdity of this rivals Alice Through The Looking Glass and penalizes the very Citizens from which the Government itself derives its very legitimacy. To allow our Government to put on the mantle of ruler instead of servant of the Citizens isn't only a mistake; the act itself is an outright usurpation of basic Citizen rights. So, what are we? Subject? or Citizens? This proposed law as well as others already enacted have carried the role of Government into the realm of despot and tyrants. Removing the locally issued voter identification cards from the list of valid identification to establish eligibility is beyond unreasonable!

Bette writes:

If the state of Virginia wants a photo ID for voting then why not issue them free of charge to anyone who needs one?

To register to vote and obtain a voters registration card in VA, you have to provide your Social Security number. Social Security numbers are only supposed to be used for identifying Social Security benefits/beneficiaries, yet, this bill deletes the Virginia Voter registration card as an acceptable ID, and keeps the Social Security Card as an "acceptable ID"..which last time I checked didn't come with a photo.

This bill is pure hogwash..its placing another barrier in front of registered voters who are qualified to vote. WHY?

Jody writes:

The bill does NOT require a picture ID. You can use SS card, Voter registration card, driver's license, photo work ID, utility bill, paycheck, or government check as long as it has the person's name and address on it. I would like to believe that everyone is honest and wouldn't try to tale advantage of the system, but that is a naive thought.

Personally, I would rather the social security number NOT be part of the voting process. We get a random alpha numeric for our driver's license now, why not do the same for voter registration?

Free voter ID cards with pictures could be provided at cost. Something can be worked out to allow those with very low income to get them for free.

Bill Fleming writes:

There is a "Drivers License and Indentification Card Application Form" that is available from the DMV (DL 1P (07/01/2011)R. It is obstensibly for either driver's licenses or identification cards. I know of one elder person who used it to keep an photo ID after they decided that they could not drive any longer. However, there is nothing on the form that says that anybody could not use it to get a State Identification Card. The only applicable blocks would be Application Type and Applicant Information. If anybody use this to obtain a state Identification Card perhaps everyone could apply for a state identification card. Since there is a block on page 2 for parental consent for people under 18, even children could apply for an Identification Card. The total number could be 8 million cards or more!