SB610:

Virginia Personnel Act; policy or administration for Department of Elections.

Bill Summary:

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.