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General Assembly Voting Bills Update – Veto Version

Here are some of the bills the Virginia General Assembly acted on that affect voting (courtesy of Project Vote). You can go to the Virginia Legislative Information System website and type in the bill number for more information.  You can then contact Governor McAuliffe to urge approval or a veto.

Sign:

Voter ID bill HB 1538 passed the Senate. The bill requires that for the purpose of the ID presented by the voter, the voter’s name as found on the pollbook matches or is substantially similar to the name listed on the form of identification presented and the name stated by the voter.  This is Del. Watts’ bill – the “substantially similar” language means it does not have to be identical.

Youth Voting bill HB 1653 passed the Senate. This bill would allow for the use of valid student photo IDs that are issued by any private school located in the Commonwealth as voter ID.

Veto:

Voter ID/Absentee Voting bill HB 1318 passed the Senate. This bill would require that any voter submitting an application for an absentee ballot by mail or fax must submit with the voter’s application a copy of one of the forms of photo identification acceptable under current law for voting in person. The bill provides an exception for military and overseas voters and voters with disabilities. Currently, only a voter who completes his application for an absentee ballot in person is required to show a form of identification.

Not sure but patroned by folks who usually don’t support voting rights:

List Maintenance bill HB 1315 passed the Senate with amendments. This bill requires jury commissioners to transmit to the general registrar lists of persons not qualified to serve on a jury as a result of non-citizenship, lack of residency in Virigina or the county or city, felony conviction without rights restored, or having been adjudicated incapacitated. The general registrar would be required to utilize the information received pursuant to identify voters who are no longer qualified to vote and to initiate list maintenance procedures pursuant to state or federal law.

List Maintenance bill SB 1350 was adopted. As substituted, this bill would allow voters to cancel their registrations by notifying the Department of Elections by electronic means as approved by the State Board of Elections. This bill would allow the State Board to use including commercially available sources of data for voter list maintenance. The bill also makes mandatory cancellation of voter registrations for whom a notice that the person has moved out of the Commonwealth has been submitted to the Department of Motor Vehicles in accordance with the Driver License Compact in Virginia law.

Note also:

Voter ID Expansion bill SB 1061 was laid on the table. As substituted, the bill would provide that if the electronic pollbook contains the photograph and identifying information received from the Department of Motor Vehicles for the voter, the pollworker must access the photograph and identifying information for that voter and the voter would not be required to present a photo ID to vote. If the voter does not appear to be the same person depicted in the photo in the ID presented or in the photo in the electronic pollbook, the officer of election must challenge the voter’s vote.

Felon Voting Rights bill SJ 238 was laid on the table. This bill would allow the General Assembly to provide for the restoration of civil rights to persons who have been convicted of nonviolent felonies and who have completed service of their sentences, including any period or condition of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence, subject to the conditions, requirements, and definitions set forth in that law.