Elections. Applies the provisions of the Virginia Personnel Act to the chief deputy and confidential assistant for policy or administration for the Department of Elections. The bill also (i) expands the membership of the State Board of Elections from five members to six members with equal representation given to both parties; (ii) gives the State Board of Elections the authority and duty to appoint the Commissioner of Elections of the Department of Elections by a supermajority vote; (iii) requires the Department of Elections to conduct periodic assessments to ensure that voters are assigned to the correct state legislative and congressional districts based on their residential addresses; (iv) requires the State Registrar of Vital Records to transmit lists of deceased persons weekly instead of the current monthly requirement; (v) requires the general registrars to use information in the lists of deceased persons to promptly remove deceased persons from the voter registration system; (vi) requires voters to present a valid form of photo identification when they vote; (vii) provides that audits of ballot scanner machines must take place prior to the certification of election results; (viii) provides that absentee ballots must be collected daily from absentee ballot drop-off locations by certain people and according to procedures for securing such ballots; (ix) provides that a postmark on an absentee ballot must be legible and no longer includes other official indicia of confirmation of mailing by a postal or delivery service; and (x) creates work groups to evaluate the performance of the Virginia voter registration system and to develop and implement a plan to provide oversight to local election administration to assess risks to Virginia's administration of elections. Portions of the bill affecting the composition of the State Board of Elections and the appointment of the Commissioner of Elections have a delayed effective date of January 1, 2023.
Sponsored bills
Celebrating the life of Sue Birdsong.
Celebrating the life of Robert Emerson Stephens.
Celebrating the life of Jeffrey Lee Gardy.
Commending Ryan Acey.
Celebrating the life of Curtis Robert Milteer,Sr.
School safety audits; law-enforcement officers. Requires each local school board to require its schools to fullycollaborate with the chief law-enforcement officer of the localityor his designee when conducting required school safety audits. Undercurrent law, the division superintendent is required to make theresults of such audits available to the chief law-enforcement officerupon request, and his approval is not needed. The bill also requires that the completed walk-through checklist using the standardizedchecklist provided by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safetybe made available to the chief law-enforcement officer of the localityor his designee. Current law requires that the completed walk-throughchecklist be made available to the chief law-enforcement officeror his designee upon request.
Celebrating the life of Thomas Gunn Underwood.
Disabled veteran special license plate; survivingspouse. Authorizes a disabled veteran special license plate issuedto a disabled veteran to be transferred, upon his death, to his unremarriedsurviving spouse.
Virginia Freedom of Information Act; Virginia Parole Board member votes. Provides that individual votes of the members of the Virginia Parole Board are public records and subject to the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. This bill is identical to SB 5.