The dramatic increase in absentee balloting in recent years is prompting new legislation to make sure the process runs efficiently.
People who run elections in Virginia may soon be required to process absentee ballots within three business days after they’re received in the mail or in a drop box. That's the idea behind a bill introduced by Republican Delegate Otto Wachsmann of Sussex, who says a constituent came to him with concerns that absentee ballots were stacking up.
"The whole intent of this bill is to make sure that these provisional ballots don't stack up in the registrar's office," Wachsmann says. "So then, more voters will be informed earlier so then they can come back and cure the ballot, so we have more ballots that are cast as ballots and not as provisional ballots at the end."
The bill passed the House without opposition and is currently being considered in the Senate, where Senator Aaron Rouse is chairman of the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee.
"Typically for our huge localities such as Fairfax and even down in the city of Virginia Beach, it's just making sure that they have enough time to do ballot curing," Rouse says. "This is another safe measure, a way to ensure that all the absentee ballots that come in are processed in a timely manner."
The bill is expected to pass the Senate this week.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
