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