Richmond, Virginia—Today, voters are celebrating the passage of a series of bills in the House of Delegates that would help remove barriers for people voting in our elections. These bills make it easier for voters with disabilities to use curbside voting, prevent people from carrying guns outside of polling places, expand the list of acceptable documents for voter ID, and make it easier for voters to recall public officials who commit hate crimes or sexual offenses. 

“Since Democrats passed historic pro-voter legislation in 2021, we have seen real progress in making the ballot box accessible to everyone in our community,” said LaTwyla Mathias, Executive Director at Progress Virginia. “But of course, we still have more work to do to make sure that people who have been historically excluded from the democratic process are able to have their voices heard. These bills are a big step in the right direction. They are commonsense bills that help make the process fairer for everyone.  We know that we can’t expect help from the Supreme Court, and our federal lawmakers haven’t been able to protect voting rights nationally, so if we want to have freer, fairer elections and a healthy democracy, we are going to have to build it for ourselves. Bills like this are how we get that done.”

BACKGROUND: 

• HB26, sponsored by Delegate David Reid, allows additional forms of photo identification to be accepted as proof of identity for voting. Some classes of eligible voters, particularly older Virginians and active duty military and their families, don’t have a Virginia driver’s license, so permitting alternative forms of ID makes it easier for those voters to participate in our elections. 

• HB43, sponsored by Delegate Joshua Thomas, and HB441, sponsored by Delegate Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, expand the definition of disability to make it easier for people to vote outside the polling place if they cannot physically walk in. The bill also allows anyone to vote outside of a polling place during a declared public health emergency, and requires election officers to receive training in providing assistance to voters outside of the polling place.

• HB265, sponsored by Delegate Marcus Simon, expands the grounds for the removal of public officials from public office to include certain misdemeanors related to controlled substances, hate crimes, and sexual offenses. To remove an official, 10% of voters who voted in the last election must sign a petition for removal with signatures collected within 90 days. 

• HB939, sponsored by Delegate Irene Shin, bars people from carrying guns within 100 feet of a polling station, an electoral board meeting, and places where certain other election-related activities are being conducted. 

• Virginia moved from being ranked the 49th hardest place to vote in the country to being ranked 11th after Democrats passed pro-voter legislation to make it easier to vote.