Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Elections
 
Board
State Board of Elections
 
chapter
Absentee Voting [1 VAC 20 ‑ 70]
Action Material omissions from absentee ballots.
Stage Final
Comment Period Ended on 10/12/2011
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10/12/11  4:57 pm
Commenter: Ralph Chasteen

Guidelines/Regulations for Absentee Ballots
 

As the vitality of a democracy is dependant on a broad and inclusive electorate, it should be the goal of public oficials to expand, not contract, the number of voters and votes cast. 

While some minimum standards are reasonable in order to identify persons eligible to vote and to ensure that votes are cast only by eligible voters, there should be no effort made to make it more difficult for all votes to be counted.  On the contrary, all ballots cast should be considered valid in the absence of a clear reason to doubt the validity of a ballot.  Minor omissions and/or human errors should not be the basis for rejection.

A ballot submitted on the proper printed form for the current year should not be rejected because of poor penmanship, omission of the full date for a signature, or a voter's use of a nickname, deriviative name, or other insignificant details.  If all other information matches with recorded voter details, address, and other identifiers, a ballot should be counted, period.

CommentID: 21000