HB 441 — Polling place; assistance for certain voters, clarifies definition of 'person with a disability.'

SESSION ENROLLED VIRGINIA ACTS OF ASSEMBLY ––-- 2024 SESSION CHAPTER E191 An Act to amend and reenact §§ 24.2-101 and 24.2-649.1 of the Code of Virginia, relating to assistance for certain voters outside of the polling place;

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O [H 441] Approved LMarch L28, 2024 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

That §§ 24.2-101 and 24.2-649.1 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as followsEfollows: § 24.2-101.

§ 24.2-101.

DAs "Ballotused scannerin machine"this meanstitle, unless the electroniccontext countingrequires machine in which a voterdifferent insertsmeaning: a marked ballot to be scanned and the results tabulated.

"Candidate""Ballot meansscanner amachine" personmeans who seeks or campaigns for an office of the Commonwealthelectronic orcounting onemachine ofin itswhich governmentala unitsvoter ininserts a general,marked primary,ballot orto specialbe electionscanned and who is qualified to have his name placed on the ballotresults fortabulated. the office.

"Candidate" shallmeans include a person who seeks theor nominationcampaigns offor aan politicaloffice partyof orthe who,Commonwealth byor reasonone of receivingplaced on the nominationballot of a political party for electionthe tooffice. an office, is referred to as its nominee.

For"Candidate" shall include a person who seeks the purposesnomination of Chaptersame 8political (§party 24.2-800or etwho, seq.),by 9.3H(§reason 24.2-945of etreceiving seq.),the andnomination 9.5of (§a 24.2-955political etparty seq.),for "candidate"election shallto includean anyoffice, write-inis candidate.referred to as its nominee.

Howev4r,For nothe topurposes initiateof anChapters election8 contest(§ pursuant24.2-800 toet Articleseq.), 29.3 (§ 24.2-80324.2-945 et seq.)seq.), ofand Chapter9.5 8.(§ 24.2-955 et seq.), "candidate" shall include any write-in candidate.

However, no write-in candidate who has received less than 15 percent of the votes cast for the office shall be eligible to initiate an election contest pursuant to Article 2 (§ 24.2-803 et seq.) of Chapter 8.

"Central absentee voter precinct" means a precinct established pursuant to § 24.2-712 for the processing of absentee ballots for the county or city or any combination of precincts within the county or "Constitutionalcity. office" or "constitutional officer" means a county or city office or officer referred to in Article VII, § 4 of the Constitution of Virginia:

"Constitutional office" or "constitutional officer" means a county or city office or officer referred to in Article VII, § 4 of the Constitution of Virginia:

"Election" means a general, primary, or special election.

"Entrance of polling place" or "entrance to polling place" means an opening in the wall used for ing"Generalingress election" means an election held in the Commonwealth on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November or on the first Tuesday in May for the purpose of filling offices regularly scheduled by law to bea filledstructure. at those times.

"General election" means an election held in the Commonwealth on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November or on the first Tuesday in May for the purpose of filling offices regularly scheduled by law to be filled at those times.

"Machine-readable ballot" means a tangible ballot that is marked by a voter or by a system or device operated by a voter, is available for verification by the voter at the time the ballot is cast, and is then fed into and scanned by a separate counting machine capable of reading ballots and tabulating results.

then "Officer of election" means a person appointed by an electoral board pursuant to § 24.2-115 to serve of 3 at a polling place for any election.

of 3 "Party" or "political party" means an organization of citizens of the Commonwealth which, at either of the two preceding statewide general elections, received at least 10 percent of the total vote cast for any statewide office filled in that election.

"Voting system" means the electronic voting and counting machines used at elections, including direct recording electronic machines (DRE), ballot scanner machines, and on-demand ballot printing systems and ballot marking devices used to manufacture or mark ballots to be cast by voters on of 3 electronic voting and counting machines.

E A.

Any qualified voter who is a person with a disability or who is age 65 or older shall be Nntitled declared state of emergency related to a communicable disease of public health threat, any voter,during a regardless of age or disability, shall be entitled to vote outside of the polling place in accordance with the provisions of this section.

ForHowever, purposesduring a declared state of thisemergency section,related to a disabilitycommunicable shalldisease includeof apublic permOnenthealth physicalthreat, disability,any avoter, orof temporary3 physicalregardless disability,of age or andisability, injury.shall be entitled to vote outside of the polling place in accordance with the provisions of this section.

For purposes of this section, a disability shall include a permanent physical disability, a or temporary physical disability, or an injury.

This area shall be clearly marked, and instructions on how to noLifynotify an officer of election of the voter's request to vote outside of the polling place shall be prominently thedisplayed. voter be required to enter the polling place to provide such notice.nstructions, but in no Ease shall C.

The Department shall prescribe the form and content of such instructions, but in no case shall the voter be required to enter the polling place to provide such notice.

C.

Any county or city that has acquired an electronic voting machine that is so constructed as to be easily portable may use the voting machine in lieu of a printed ballot for voting outside of the polling place, so long as:

(i) the voting machine remains in the plain view of two officers of electionHelection polling representing two political parties, or in a primary election, two officers of election representing the party conducting the primary, provided that if the use of two officers for this purpose would result in too few officers remaining in the polling place to meet legal requirements, the voting machine shall reEainremain in plain view of one officer who shall be either the chief officer or the assistant chief officer and (ii) the voter casts his ballot in a secret manner unless the voter requests assistance pursuant to § 24.2-649.

After the voter has completed voting his ballot, the officer or officers shall immediately return the voting machine to its assigned location inside the polling place, and shall record (a) the machine number, (b) the time that the machine was removed and the time that it was returned, (c) the number on the machine's public counter before the machine was removed and the number on the same counter when it was returned, and (d) the name or names of the officer or officers who accompanied the machine on the statement of results.

If a polling place fails to record the information required in clause (a), (b), (c), or (d), or it is later proven that the information recorded was intentionally falsified, the local electoral board or general registrar shall dismiss at a minimum the chief officer or the assistant chief officer, or both, as appropriate, and shall dismiss any other officer of election who is shown to haveefhave caused the failure to record the required information intentionally or by gross negligence or to have intentionally falsified the information.

officials2. the processes and procedures for voting outside of the polling place pursuant to § 24.2-649.1 of the Code of Virginia, as amended by this act, including best practices for providing assistance for voters with disabilities.

That the Department of Elections shall incorporate into guidance documents for election officials the processes and procedures for voting outside of the polling place pursuant to § 24.2-649.1 of the Code of Virginia, as amended by this act, including best practices for providing assistance for voters with disabilities.