Virginia Senate Bill 1245 (Prior Session Legislation)

---

Completed Legislative Action
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)
Status: Passed on April 7 2021 - 100% progression
Action: 2021-04-07 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text reprinted (CHAP0522)
Text: Latest bill text (Chaptered) [HTML]

Absentee voting; establishment of drop-off locations; preprocessing of returned absentee ballots before election day; cure process; accessibility for voters with visual impairment or print disability. Requires certain actions to be taken to process absentee ballots returned before the day of an election, including verifying the correct completion of the voter affirmation statement, and provides for an opportunity for an absentee voter to make corrections to the statement in certain circumstances. The bill requires the establishment of drop-off locations. Additionally, a central absentee voter precinct is required to be established in each locality; currently, establishment is optional. On the day of the election, officers of election are required to begin processing absentee ballots in the central absentee voter precincts prior to the close of polls, but no ballot vote counts are permitted to be transmitted outside of the central absentee voter precinct prior to the close of polls; a violation of such prohibition is a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill requires a ballot marking tool with screen reader assistive technology to be made available for absentee voters with a print disability. The Department of Elections is directed to convene a work group to consider and evaluate methods for sorting absentee ballots by precinct and reporting absentee ballot totals by precincts. Absentee voting; establishment of drop-off locations; preprocessing of returned absentee ballots before election day; cure process; accessibility for voters with visual impairment or print disability. Requires certain actions to be taken to process absentee ballots returned before the day of an election, including verifying the correct completion of the voter affirmation statement, and provides for an opportunity for an absentee voter to make corrections to the statement in certain circumstances. The bill requires the establishment of drop-off locations. Additionally, a central absentee voter precinct is required to be established in each locality; currently, establishment is optional. On the day of the election, officers of election are required to begin processing absentee ballots in the central absentee voter precincts prior to the close of polls, but no ballot vote counts are permitted to be transmitted outside of the central absentee voter precinct prior to the close of polls; a violation of such prohibition is a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill requires a ballot marking tool with screen reader assistive technology to be made available for absentee voters with a print disability. The Department of Elections is directed to convene a work group to consider and evaluate methods for sorting absentee ballots by precinct and reporting absentee ballot totals by precincts.

Absentee voting; establishment of drop-off locations preprocessing returned absentee ballots.

Sen. Creigh Deeds [D]	Sen. Jennifer Boysko [D]	Sen. Adam Ebbin [D]	Sen. Jennifer McClellan [D]
Sen. Scott Surovell [D]

2021-04-07 - House - House: VOTE: Agree To (55-Y 45-N) (Y: 55 N: 45 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2021-04-07 - Senate - Senate: Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation (21-Y 19-N) (Y: 21 N: 19 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2021-02-23 - Senate - Senate: House substitute agreed to by Senate (21-Y 18-N) (Y: 21 N: 18 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2021-02-22 - House - House: VOTE: Passage (55-Y 45-N) (Y: 55 N: 45 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2021-02-17 - House - House: Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (13-Y 9-N) (Y: 13 N: 9 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2021-02-16 - House - House: Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (5-Y 3-N) (Y: 5 N: 3 NV: 0 Abs: 1) [PASS]
2021-02-01 - Senate - Senate: Read third time and passed Senate (21-Y 18-N) (Y: 21 N: 18 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2021-01-28 - Senate - Senate: Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N) (Y: 38 N: 0 NV: 0 Abs: 1) [PASS]
2021-01-26 - Senate - Senate: Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (9-Y 6-N) (Y: 9 N: 6 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]

Date	Chamber	Action
2021-04-07		Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text reprinted (CHAP0522)
2021-04-07		Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0522)
2021-04-07	House	Enacted, Chapter 522 (effective 7/1/21)
2021-04-07	Senate	Signed by President as reenrolled
2021-04-07	House	Signed by Speaker as reenrolled
2021-04-07	Senate	Reenrolled bill text reprinted (SB1245ER2)
2021-04-07	Senate	Reenrolled bill text (SB1245ER2)
2021-04-07	Senate	Reenrolled
2021-04-07		Governor: Governor's recommendation adopted
2021-04-07	House	VOTE: Agree To (55-Y 45-N)
2021-04-07	House	House concurred in Governor's recommendation (55-Y 45-N)
2021-04-07	Senate	Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation (21-Y 19-N)
2021-03-31	Senate	Governor's recommendation received by Senate
2021-03-01		Governor: Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
2021-03-01	Senate	Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 1, 2021
2021-02-26	House	Signed by Speaker
2021-02-25	Senate	Bill text as passed Senate and House reprinted (SB1245ER)
2021-02-25	Senate	Signed by President
2021-02-25	Senate	Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1245ER)
2021-02-25	Senate	Enrolled
2021-02-23	Senate	Title replaced 21200180D-H1
2021-02-23	Senate	House substitute agreed to by Senate (21-Y 18-N)
2021-02-22	House	VOTE: Passage (55-Y 45-N)
2021-02-22	House	Passed House with substitute (55-Y 45-N)
2021-02-22	House	Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB1245H1
2021-02-22	House	Committee substitute agreed to 21200180D-H1
2021-02-22	House	Read third time
2021-02-19	House	Read second time
2021-02-17	House	Committee substitute printed 21200180D-H1
2021-02-17	House	Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (13-Y 9-N)
2021-02-16	House	Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (5-Y 3-N)
2021-02-10	House	Assigned P & E sub: Election Administration
2021-02-08	House	Continued to Special Session 1 in Privileges and Elections by voice vote
2021-02-05	House	Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections
2021-02-05	House	Read first time
2021-02-05	House	Placed on Calendar
2021-02-01	Senate	Read third time and passed Senate (21-Y 18-N)
2021-01-29	Senate	Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1245S1
2021-01-29	Senate	Committee substitute agreed to 21103751D-S1
2021-01-29	Senate	Reading of substitute waived
2021-01-29	Senate	Read second time
2021-01-28	Senate	Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
2021-01-26	Senate	Committee substitute printed 21103751D-S1
2021-01-26	Senate	Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (9-Y 6-N)
2021-01-11	Senate	Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections
2021-01-11	Senate	Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21100967D

SB1245 (Carry Over) 2021-02-08 - Continued to Special Session 1 in Privileges and Elections by voice vote

Chapter	Article	Section	Citation Type	Statute Text
24	2	706	(n/a)	See Bill Text
24	2	707	(n/a)	See Bill Text
24	2	707.1	(n/a)	See Bill Text
24	2	709	(n/a)	See Bill Text
24	2	709.1	(n/a)	See Bill Text
24	2	710	(n/a)	See Bill Text

Type	Source
Summary	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+SB1245
Text	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1245+hil
Text	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1245S1+hil
Text	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1245H1+hil
Text	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1245ER+hil
Text	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1245ER2+hil
Text	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0522+hil
Amendment	https://committees.lis.virginia.gov/pdfs/drafts/21200180D.pdf
Amendment	https://committees.lis.virginia.gov/pdfs/21200180.pdf
Amendment	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+amd+SB1245AG
Supplement	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+oth+SB1245F122+PDF
Supplement	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+oth+SB1245FS1122+PDF
Supplement	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+oth+SB1245FH1122+PDF
Supplement	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+oth+SB1245FER122+PDF
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+vot+S08C0041+SB1245
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+vot+SC0161SB1245+SB1245
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+vot+SC0206SB1245+SB1245
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+vot+H1801V0001+SB1245
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+vot+H18V0016+SB1245
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+vot+HV1815+SB1245
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+vot+SV0328SB1245+SB1245
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+vot+SV0592SB1245+SB1245
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+vot+HV2091+SB1245