This regulation will provide clear direction to the local election boards and their election officials as to the material requirements for filling out the five input fields in the form on Envelope B and as to the requirement that a submitted  Envelope B must be sealed for an absentee ballot be considered valid.  Section 24.2-706 specifically gives a description of Envelope B and the wording for a form on the envelope.  Section 24.2-707 provides a clear statement of the procedure that the voter is to follow to actually cast a marked Absentee Ballot.  This statement includes "...(c) fill in and sign the statement printed on the back of the envelope in the presence of a witness.... and  .... e) seal the envelope...".  Further in Section 24.2-707, it states that "... Failure to follow the procedures set forth above shall render the applicant's ballot void...."  This can only be interpreted as requiring the voter to completely fill in the form and to seal the envelope before returning it to the electoral board.  This regulation provides a firm interpretation of the Code to prevent any other interpretations of Section 2.24-707 from being used.

Election law should be used to provide the voters with assurances of the integrity of the voting process.  Section 24.2-709 states that the ballot will be counted "...if the voter is entitled to vote...." and 24.2-709.1 states that election officials should "...examine the ballot envelopes to verify completeness of the required voter affirmation...".  This implies that an effort must be made to determine that the person returning the ballot is indeed the person who was authorized to receive an absentee ballot.  To accomplish this, at a minimum the name and address on the Registrar-preprinted return label should be compared to the name and address the voter used on Envelope B.  This comparison cannot be made without having the complete information on Envelope B as specified in this regulation,

To help ensure that only valid ballots are counted, it is important that the sealed Envelope B be opened and the ballot removed only after it has been determined to be valid.  If Envelope B is not sealed, the ballot could be  inadvertently removed prior to the validation step and be counted.  This creates the possibility that invalid ballots could be counted.  The regulation requiring a sealed Envelope B will prevent this from occurring.

As the designated Republican observer at the Central Absentee Precinct for the past 6 elections (general and special) in Fairfax County, I have personally seen the difficulty that election officials have in determining if the form on Envelope B has been correctly and sufficiently filled out to validate the ballot.  With the lack of a clear interpretation of the meaning of 24.2-706 and 707, the teams of election officials processing the absentee ballots have made arbitrary and inconsistent rulings on the validity of ballots and often make decisions based upon their concept of the "voter's intent" rather than any consideration of the intent of the law.  This has created an untenable situation which will be rectified by this regulation.

I have two comments.

My first comment deals with the following wording:

"4. The voter did not provide his house number, street name or rural route address, city of residence, or zip code;"

What is the intent of #4? 

Is it to require voters to enter either house number with the street name (without the city or zip) or rural route address with the city or  just the zip code?      or 

Is it to require that voters, in all cases, must also provide either the city or zip code?

I feel this is not written clearly. 

24.2-706 states the following:  " house number, street name or rural route address, city, zip code."

Second Issue:

Many people use their middle name and the initial of their first name ( e. g. T. Boone Pickens).   if you are going to let  "Bob"  pass, I think that you should accommodate voters who do not use their first name.  Bob knows his legal name is not Bob. Unlike Bob, T. Boone really dislikes his first name and signs every legal document using his first initial.

Thanks for taking comments.

Theresa

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