Absentee voting; establishment of drop-off locations, ballot defects, cure process. (SB1245)

Introduced By

Sen. Creigh Deeds (D-Bath) with support from co-patrons Sen. Jennifer Boysko (D-Herndon), Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria), Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond), and Sen. Scott Surovell (D-Mount Vernon)

Progress

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

Description

Absentee voting; establishment of drop-off locations; preprocessing of returned absentee ballots before election day; cure process; accessibility for voters with visual impairment or print disability. Requires certain actions to be taken to process absentee ballots returned before the day of an election, including verifying the correct completion of the voter affirmation statement, and provides for an opportunity for an absentee voter to make corrections to the statement in certain circumstances. The bill requires the establishment of drop-off locations. Additionally, a central absentee voter precinct is required to be established in each locality; currently, establishment is optional. On the day of the election, officers of election are required to begin processing absentee ballots in the central absentee voter precincts prior to the close of polls, but no ballot vote counts are permitted to be transmitted outside of the central absentee voter precinct prior to the close of polls; a violation of such prohibition is a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill requires a ballot marking tool with screen reader assistive technology to be made available for absentee voters with a print disability. The Department of Elections is directed to convene a work group to consider and evaluate methods for sorting absentee ballots by precinct and reporting absentee ballot totals by precincts. Read the Bill »

Status

04/07/2021: enacted

History

Date	Action
01/11/2021	Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21100967D
01/11/2021	Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections
01/22/2021	Impact statement from DPB (SB1245)
01/26/2021	Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
01/26/2021	Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (9-Y 6-N) (see vote tally)
01/26/2021	Committee substitute printed 21103751D-S1
01/28/2021	Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
01/29/2021	Read second time
01/29/2021	Reading of substitute waived
01/29/2021	Committee substitute agreed to 21103751D-S1
01/29/2021	Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1245S1
02/01/2021	Impact statement from DPB (SB1245S1)
02/01/2021	Read third time and passed Senate (21-Y 18-N) (see vote tally)
02/05/2021	Placed on Calendar
02/05/2021	Read first time
02/05/2021	Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections
02/08/2021	Continued to Special Session 1 in Privileges and Elections
02/10/2021	Assigned P & E sub: Election Administration
02/16/2021	House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
02/16/2021	Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (5-Y 3-N)
02/17/2021	Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (13-Y 9-N) (see vote tally)
02/17/2021	Committee substitute printed 21200180D-H1
02/19/2021	Read second time
02/19/2021	Impact statement from DPB (SB1245H1)
02/22/2021	Committee substitute agreed to 21103751D-S1
02/22/2021	Read third time
02/22/2021	Committee substitute agreed to 21200180D-H1
02/22/2021	Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB1245H1
02/22/2021	Passed House with substitute (55-Y 45-N)
02/22/2021	VOTE: Passage (55-Y 45-N)
02/23/2021	House substitute agreed to by Senate (21-Y 18-N)
02/23/2021	Title replaced 21200180D-H1
02/25/2021	Enrolled
02/25/2021	Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1245ER)
02/25/2021	Impact statement from DPB (SB1245ER)
02/25/2021	Signed by President
02/25/2021	Bill text as passed Senate and House reprinted (SB1245ER)
02/26/2021	Signed by Speaker
03/01/2021	Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 1, 2021
03/01/2021	G Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
03/31/2021	Governor's recommendation received by Senate
04/07/2021	Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation (21-Y 19-N)
04/07/2021	House concurred in Governor's recommendation (55-Y 45-N)
04/07/2021	VOTE: Agree To (55-Y 45-N)
04/07/2021	G Governor's recommendation adopted
04/07/2021	Reenrolled bill text (SB1245ER2)
04/07/2021	Reenrolled
04/07/2021	Signed by President as reenrolled
04/07/2021	Signed by Speaker as reenrolled
04/07/2021	Enacted, Chapter 522 (effective 7/1/21)
04/07/2021	G Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0522)
04/07/2021	Reenrolled bill text reprinted (SB1245ER2)
04/07/2021	G Acts of Assembly Chapter text reprinted (CHAP0522)