Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) vetoed most election bills of any governor in the first half of 2024

Thirty-eight bills related to elections passed both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly in the first half of 2024. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) vetoed 13 of these, the most vetoes of election-related legislation by any governor during the period. Despite the vetoes, the 25 new laws related to elections adopted this year are the most of any state with a divided government.

Lawmakers passed bills related to voting while incarcerated, increasing protections for election officials and workers, faithful presidential electors, and new requirements for the state’s elections website:

• HB 1330 stipulates that a registered voter incarcerated for a misdemeanor or awaiting trial related to a misdemeanor conviction has the right to vote an absentee/mail-in ballot. If they are incarcerated after the deadline to request a ballot, then the institution or facility in which an individual is confined must provide transportation to the appropriate polling location.
• HB 943 / SB 364 adds current and former election workers, officials, and presidential electors to the list of protected voters who may choose to provide a P.O. box in lieu of a personal address for voter registration. The bill also increases penalties for threats and intimidation made against these individuals.
• HB 111, a version of the Uniform Faithful Presidential Electors Act, requires all nominated presidential electors to be U.S. citizens, state residents, and to take an oath that they will vote for their party’s candidate for U.S. Presidentand Vice President. It also provides for a new method for replacing withdrawn or otherwise vacant presidential elector positions.
• HB 989 established new requirements for the state’s Department of Elections’ website, including that the website be translated into a number of languages set by standards elsewhere in state law, and that the website provide a list of candidates, constitutional amendments, and statewide referenda for all elections in the state.

Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) vetoed several other election bills passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature, including:

• SB 606, which would have required the state to reapply to join the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a voter list maintenance compact. Virginia was a founding member of ERIC in 2012 but resigned in 2023.
• HB 904 / SB 300, which would have required the Department of Elections to keep a record of cancellation of a voter’s registration for four years, instead of two, and would have created new security standards for state and county voter registration systems.
• SB 428, which would have established new counting, tabulation, and certification procedures for ranked-choice voting (RCV) elections in Virginia. According to the bill’s sponsor, “The bill made a series of changes the Department [of Elections] asked for to ensure for a smoother and more legally sound process for ranked-choice voting.”

The information in this article is based on Ballotpedia’s State of Election Administration Legislation 2024 Mid-Year Report. The report provides insights, analysis, and takeaways from the 3,735 election-related bills we tracked in the first half of this year.