Virginia Administrative Code

A. The agency may appoint a regulatory advisory panel (RAP) to provide professional specialization or technical assistance when the agency determines that such expertise is necessary to address a specific regulatory issue or action or when individuals indicate an interest in work…

A. The agency may appoint a negotiated rulemaking panel (NRP) if a regulatory action is expected to be controversial. B. An NRP that has been appointed by the agency may be dissolved by the agency when: 1. There is no longer controversy associated with the development of the regu…

Notice of any open meeting, including meetings of a RAP or NRP, shall be posted on the State Board of Elections website or on Town Hall and Commonwealth Calendar at least seven working days prior to the date of the meeting. The exception to this requirement is any meeting held in…

A. The board shall indicate in its notice of intended regulatory action whether it plans to hold a public hearing following the publication of the proposed stage of the regulatory action. B. The board may conduct one or more public hearings during the comment period following the…

The following words and terms when used in this chapter shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: "Active ballot" means a ballot that counts toward an active candidate in the current round of counting. "Active candidate" means a candidate o…

The Department of Elections shall publish on the department website, https://www.elections.virginia.gov, instructions on the administration of ranked choice voting elections. Statutory Authority§ 24.2-673.1 of the Code of Virginia.

As prescribed by § 24.2-673.1 of the Code of Virginia, a county board of supervisors or city council may elect by majority to conduct an election for its members by ranked choice voting. The adoption for ranked choice voting shall only be valid for the election specified in the o…

As prescribed by § 24.2-673.1 of the Code of Virginia, ballots shall be tabulated in the following manner: 1. Ranked choice overvote. a. In the case of a ranked choice overvote for a ranking on a ballot, the ranking shall not be counted in any round, and the next valid ranking sh…

A. First-choice ranking tabulation round. For all elections for an office conducted by ranked choice voting, only first-choice rankings shall be counted in the first-choice ranking tabulation round. If any candidate has a vote total greater than or equal to the maximum possible t…

In the event the general registrar receives a ballot that cannot be read by the ballot scanner machine, the general registrar or election official shall transpose the voter's intent to a machine readable ballot.Statutory Authority§ 24.2-673.1 of the Code of Virginia.

Pursuant to § 24.2-644 C of the Code of Virginia, at all elections conducted by ranked choice voting except primary elections, any voter may vote for any person other than the listed candidates for the office by writing or hand printing the person's name on the official ballot.St…

A. The following information must be publicly posted on the Department of Elections website at https://www.elections.virginia.gov: 1. First-choice ranking tabulation round vote results, reported by precinct; and 2. Results for each round completed pursuant to 1VAC20-100-50 B and …

For the purposes of this section, "educational information" means nonpartisan information that in plain language informs the public on the adoption of ranked choice voting for an election, a description of ranked choice voting, an unmarked official sample ranked choice voting bal…

The following words and terms when used in this chapter shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: "Board" means the Virginia State Board of Elections. "Secretary" means the Secretary of the State Board of Elections.Statutory Authority§ 24.2…

State and local election staff shall use encryption technology meeting the Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules, FIPS PUB 140-2, issued May 25, 2001, with change notices through December 3, 2002, of the National Institute of Technology (NIST) of the United States Depar…

A. The board shall have a chairman and a vice-chairman of the board, in addition to the ex-officio secretary. The chairman shall preside at all meetings and perform the usual functions of a presiding officer and such other duties as are imposed by these regulations or from time t…

Virginia's plan under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, 42 USC § 15301 et seq., states policy of the board and performance goals for the board to document and measure.Statutory Authority§ 24.2-103 of the Code of Virginia.

The board, at its discretion, will impose a fee for noncancellation of attendance at the annual training (workshop). This fee will be limited to individuals who register to attend the training and fail to cancel their attendance within three business days of the event. The fee wi…

A. In addition to the authority described in 1VAC20-20-30, the secretary has the delegations of authority to the secretary detailed in the board's minutes of December 2, 2004, as amended September 14, 2010. Board staff (i) may update that listing to correct citations and (ii) sha…

A. A general registrar experiencing difficulty processing applications for voter registration or absentee ballots in a timely manner should immediately notify the secretary to request staff support to assure compliance with federal and state laws. B. A general registrar should pr…

A. Any person may make an informal complaint electronically or by telephone. Localities are primarily responsible for responding to all voter complaints they receive and may request board staff for assistance as needed. B. A person may file a formal written complaint with the boa…

Access to the Virginia Voter Registration System shall be restricted to individuals enrolled in a security awareness training program approved or provided by the Virginia Department of Elections. Individuals who do not complete assigned training within the required timeframe may …

The following words and terms when used in this chapter shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: "Abode" or "place of abode" means a physical place where a person dwells. One may have multiple places of abode, such as a second home. "Addre…

A. Nothing in this article shall be construed to confer upon any person any privileges or benefits other than the right to register to vote and to be qualified to vote in an election. B. Pursuant to the requirements of § 24.2-404 D of the Code of Virginia, the following shall app…

A. Residency shall be broadly construed to provide the greatest opportunity to register and to vote. A residence can be established in a commercial, industrial, or other building that is not normally used for residential purposes if the building serves as the applicant's primary …

A. In the event (i) an application to register to vote is not signed or is missing information required by law, or (ii) the general registrar cannot determine from the information provided on the application the location at which the applicant intended to register, the general re…

When warranted by the situations described in 1VAC20-40-40 C and where any other information on the voter registration application is unclear, the general registrar shall ask the following questions on a form prescribed by the board after notifying the applicant that any response…

A. If the applicant answers the questions asked pursuant to 1VAC20-40-50 with information sufficient to assign him a polling place within the precinct and to cancel his current registration elsewhere, if any, the applicant shall be registered and added to the voting rolls of the …

A. Applications for voter registration shall be on a form approved by the State Board of Elections or appropriate federal agency. B. The following omissions are not material and a voter registration application shall not be denied for failure to include one or more of the followi…

(Repealed.)

(Repealed.)

The following words and terms when used in this chapter shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: "Application for an absentee ballot" means a Federal Post Card Application (Form SF-76). A Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (SF-186) is an abs…

A. Presumptions. As provided in 1VAC20-40-30 B, no presumption in favor of or against residence may arise merely on the basis of a person's presence or absence in the following circumstances: 1. While employed in the service of the Commonwealth or United States, whether military …

An applicant eligible for registration who applies for registration simultaneously with a request for an absentee ballot on a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) as authorized by §§ 24.2-458 and 24.2-703 of the Code of Virginia may apply for registration as well as request an ab…

A. Pursuant to the requirements of §§ 24.2-467, 24.2-702.1, and 24.2-706 of the Code of Virginia, a timely received write-in absentee ballot on a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB) (Form SF-186) should not be rendered invalid if it contains an error or omission not material …

Statutory Authority§ 24.2-103 of the Code of Virginia.

A. Pursuant to the requirements of §§ 24.2-506, 24.2-521, and 24.2-543 of the Code of Virginia, a petition or a petition signature should not be rendered invalid if it contains an error or omission not material to its proper processing. B. The following omissions are always mater…

A. Pursuant to the requirements of §§ 24.2-506 and 24.2-543 of the Code of Virginia, a candidate for office, other than a party nominee, may appeal a determination that the candidate has failed to provide the required number of valid petition signatures necessary to qualify to ap…

A. Pursuant to the requirements of § 24.2-506 B of the Code of Virginia, in the event a petition signer's voter registration status is canceled at the time of processing petition signatures: 1. The petition signer's name and reason for cancelation must be recorded on a list. 2. A…

(Reserved.)Statutory Authority§ 24.2-103 of the Code of Virginia.

A. Pursuant to the requirements of § 24.2-684.1 of the Code of Virginia, a petition or a petition signature should not be rendered invalid if it contains an error or omission not material to its proper processing. B. The following omissions are always material and any petition co…

A. The use of electronic devices inside the polling place is generally permitted. However, representatives of candidates and political parties authorized to observe the election are prohibited from taking photos or video within the polling place. B. Officers of election are autho…

A. A voter, voting in person on election day or voting absentee in-person, has not voted until a permanent record of the voter's intent is preserved. B. A permanent record is preserved by a voter (i) pressing the vote or cast button on a direct recording electronic machine, (ii) …

A. If an optical scan reader in use in a polling place or a central absentee precinct malfunctions because the connected ballot container includes too many ballots, election officials may open the ballot container and empty the ballots with the following safeguards: 1. The optica…

The electoral board or general registrar may attempt to contact an individual who has voted a provisional ballot when required by § 24.2-643 of the Code of Virginia and remind the individual that he is permitted to provide a copy of a form of identification as specified in subsec…

All localities must perform logic and accuracy testing on their electronic pollbooks (EPBs) and certify to the Department of Elections that testing was completed by noon on the day prior to any election. This testing must confirm that the EPBs will provide promptly an accurate an…

A. For purposes of this section, "contested race" means a contested race wholly contained within the jurisdiction of the county or city for which an electoral board requesting a risk-limiting audit serves. B. Pursuant to § 24.2-671.2 D of the Code of Virginia, a local electoral b…