Vote centers; State Board of Elections to conduct pilot program. (HB937)

Introduced By

Del. Tony Wilt (R-Harrisonburg) with support from co-patron Del. Marcus Simon (D-Falls Church)

Progress

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

Description

Vote centers; pilot program. Authorizes the State Board of Elections to conduct a pilot program under which one or more counties or cities whose plan for participation in the pilot program is unanimously approved by the State Board would be permitted to use vote centers in the June primary elections. The governing body of a county or city applying to participate in the pilot program is required to submit a plan for participation that includes (i) the number of vote center precincts to be established in the county or city and the boundaries of such precincts and (ii) the number of vote centers to be established in each vote center precinct and the location of each such vote center. The bill defines "vote center precinct" to mean the territory established by a county or city pursuant to the pilot program, to be served by one or more vote centers; "vote center" is defined to mean the structure at which any qualified voter who is a resident of the vote center precinct may vote in a June primary election. The bill contains requirements for a minimum number of vote centers based on the number of registered voters in a vote center precinct and the size of the vote center precinct. The State Board is directed to publish a report on the implementation and effectiveness of the pilot program. The provisions of the bill expire on December 31, 2020. Read the Bill »

Outcome

Bill Has Failed

History

DateAction
01/12/2016Committee
01/12/2016Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/16 16101891D
01/12/2016Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections
01/18/2016Assigned to sub: Campaign Finance
01/18/2016Assigned P & E sub: Campaign Finance
02/04/2016Impact statement from DPB (HB937)
02/04/2016Subcommittee recommends laying on the table
02/16/2016Left in Privileges and Elections

Comments

Waldo Jaquith writes:

I don't understand what this is proposing. How is a "vote center" different than an existing polling place? I'd assumed that this was about leveraging the benefits of electronic pollbooks by letting people vote anywhere in their municipality, instead of at their precinct (which would be wonderful), but the repeated use of the phrase "vote center precinct" in the bill makes me doubt that.