SB121: County and city precincts; required to be wholly contained within election districts.

SENATE BILL NO. 121

Offered January 8, 2020
Prefiled December 16, 2019
A BILL to amend and reenact § 24.2-307 of the Code of Virginia, relating to county and city precincts; required to be wholly contained within election districts; waiver for administration of a split precinct.
Patron-- Barker

Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 24.2-307 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 24.2-307. Requirements for county and city precincts.

The governing body of each county and city shall establish by ordinance as many precincts as it deems necessary. Each governing body is authorized to increase or decrease the number of precincts and alter precinct boundaries subject to the requirements of this chapter.

At the time any precinct is established, it shall have no more than 5,000 registered voters. The general registrar shall notify the governing body whenever the number of voters who voted in a precinct in an election for President of the United States exceeds 4,000. Within six months of receiving the notice, the governing body shall proceed to revise the precinct boundaries, and any newly established or redrawn precinct shall have no more than 5,000 registered voters.

At the time any precinct is established, each precinct in a county shall have no fewer than 100 registered voters and each precinct in a city shall have no fewer than 500 registered voters.

Each precinct shall be wholly contained within any a single congressional district, Senate district, House of Delegates district, and election district used for the election of one or more members of the governing body or school board for the county or city. The governing body of each county and city shall establish its precinct boundaries immediately after the completion of the decennial redistricting by the General Assembly so that each precinct is so wholly contained. If a governing body is unable to establish a precinct with the minimum number of registered voters without splitting the precinct between two or more congressional districts, Senate districts, House of Delegates districts, or local election districts, it shall apply to the State Board for a waiver to administer a split precinct. The State Board may grant the waiver or direct the governing body to establish a precinct with less than the minimum number of registered voters as permitted by § 24.2-309.

The governing body shall establish by ordinance one polling place for each precinct.