Elections, State Board of, and local electoral boards; appointments, proportion of political party. (HB1399)

Introduced By

Del. Mark Cole (R-Fredericksburg) with support from co-patron Del. Jeff Campbell (R-Marion)

Progress

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

Description

State Board of Elections and local electoral boards; appointments; proportion of political party representation. Provides that in the appointment of members to the State Board of Elections, one Board member shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates, one Board member shall be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, and one Board member shall be appointed by the Governor. If all three members are of the same political party, the Board member appointed by the Governor shall be of the political party having cast the next highest number of votes in the Commonwealth for Governor at the last preceding gubernatorial election. The bill also provides that in the appointment of members to each local electoral board, one member shall be of the political party having the highest number of members in the House of Delegates, one member shall be of the political party having the highest number of members in the Senate of Virginia, and one member shall be of the political party of the Governor. If all three members are of the same political party, one member shall be of the political party having cast the next highest number of votes in the Commonwealth for Governor at the last preceding gubernatorial election. However, if the Governor is not elected as a candidate of a political party, the bill provides that representation shall be given to each of the political parties having the highest and next highest number of members of the General Assembly at the time of the appointment and two board members shall be of the political party having the highest number of members in the General Assembly. Representation on both the State Board of Elections and each local electoral board is to be given to each of the political parties having the highest and next highest number of votes in the Commonwealth for Governor at the last preceding gubernatorial election. Read the Bill »

Outcome

Bill Has Failed

History

DateAction
08/24/2016Committee
08/24/2016Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17100217D
08/24/2016Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections
01/10/2017Assigned P & E sub: Elections
01/12/2017Impact statement from DPB (HB1399)
01/24/2017Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 2-N)
01/27/2017Reported from Privileges and Elections with amendments (15-Y 7-N) (see vote tally)
01/30/2017Read first time
01/31/2017Read second time
01/31/2017Committee amendments agreed to
01/31/2017Engrossed by House as amended HB1399E
01/31/2017Printed as engrossed 17100217D-E
02/01/2017Read third time and passed House (61-Y 36-N)
02/01/2017VOTE: PASSAGE (61-Y 36-N) (see vote tally)
02/01/2017Impact statement from DPB (HB1399E)
02/02/2017Constitutional reading dispensed
02/02/2017Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections
02/14/2017Reported from Privileges and Elections (8-Y 6-N) (see vote tally)
02/16/2017Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/17/2017Read third time
02/17/2017Passed by for the day
02/20/2017Read third time
02/20/2017Defeated by Senate (19-Y 20-N) (see vote tally)

Video

This bill was discussed on the floor of the General Assembly. Below is all of the video that we have of that discussion, 2 clips in all, totaling 2 minutes.

Transcript

This is a transcript of the video clips in which this bill is discussed.

DELIGHTED TO HAVE THE VISITORS WITH US TODAY.

Del. Bill Howell (R-Fredericksburg): GENTLEMAN FROM POWAHATN, MR. WARE.

[Unknown]: THANK YOU, MR. SPEAKER. I RISE FOR A POINT OF MINIMALIST POINT OF PERSONAL PRIVILEGE. I'LL BE THE JUDGE OF THAT. I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT, MR. SPEAKER.

Del. Bill Howell (R-Fredericksburg): GENTLEMAN HAS THE FLOOR.

[Unknown]: JOINING US IS A GROUP FROM POWHATAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE. WE HAD AN ENGAGED CONVERSATION ABOUT VARIOUS BILLS AND POINT OWED QUESTIONS AND INTERESTS WERE A JOY FOR THIS RETIRED TEACHER. NOW, POINT OF PERSONAL PRIVILEGE.

Del. Bill Howell (R-Fredericksburg): GENTLEMAN HAS THE FLOOR.

[Unknown]: THANK YOU, MR. SPEAKER, MY LEARNED FRIEND MENTIONED THE KATO INSTITUTE, DESCRIBING IT AS A CONSERVATIVE GROUP. IN THE INTERESTS OF ACCURACY AND POLITICAL TAXONOMY, IT IS A

Comments

Tom writes:

The current method of apportioning members of local electoral boards has served VA well and Del Cole's changes will open the door to hyper politicalization of the conduct of elections such as recently witnessed in NC. Based on the description above, this bill could have obvious flaws if the House or Senate are equally divided.

K writes:

By using the number of Delegates and Senators instead of a statewide election (Governor) this bill effectively applies the same gerrymandering to the State Board of Elections. This is antidemocratic and sets the Board of Elections in direct conflict with the majority of Virginia citizens. Very bad idea.

Jeannie writes:

I don't know how the current law reads, but this law looks like a recipe for enabling the incumbent party to remains in power by taking over the Board of Elections. There should be a requirement that the Board of Elections ALWAYS has representation from opposing parties, otherwise there will be years when the Board is composed of only one party under this system.