Elections; absentee voting; no-excuse, in-person. (SB979)

Introduced By

Sen. Roz Dance (D-Petersburg) with support from co-patrons Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth), and Sen. Scott Surovell (D-Mount Vernon)

Progress

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

Description

Elections; absentee voting; no-excuse, in-person. Allows qualified voters to vote absentee in person without providing an excuse for not being able to vote in person on election day. The bill retains the statutory list of specific reasons allowing a voter to cast an absentee ballot by mail. Read the Bill »

Status

01/31/2017: Incorporated into Another Bill

History

DateAction
01/03/2017Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17102132D
01/03/2017Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections
01/23/2017Impact statement from DPB (SB979)
01/31/2017Incorporated by Privileges and Elections (SB844-Howell) (13-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)

Duplicate Bills

The following bills are identical to this one: HB1819.

Comments

ACLU-VA Voting Rights, tracking this bill in Photosynthesis, notes:

The ACLU strongly supports legislation that allows all Virginia voters to vote by absentee ballot either by mail or in-person without providing a reason. The ACLU of Virginia continues to be concerned about the effects and limitations of the current excuse-based system and encourages legislators to enact a truly equal “no-excuse” absentee voting law that is available in-person and by mail for all Virginia voters. If Virginia law limits no-excuse absentee voting to in-person only, qualified voters may be excluded from participating based upon a lack of readily accessible transportation, geography, income status, and the constraints of modern-day individuals and families. The “excuse-based” absentee voting law also continues to present concerns that certain classes of voters are being elevated. The excused-based system also continues to threaten the privacy of voters who vote by absentee ballot. The law currently requires voters to disclose private and sensitive information in order to vote by absentee ballot. And, this information is being required by a law that provides no assurance that the information will be held confidential and secure, or that it will be available to defend against allegations of absentee ballot fraud, which is a class 4 felony for which there is no statute of limitations. We strongly advocate that all voters should be permitted to vote by absentee ballot.

Eva King writes:

I strongly support this bill. A functioning democracy needs participation in elections. Easy early voting options are a vital tool to help increase election turn-out.