Virginia Department of Elections Corrects Same-Day Registration Voter List Error

A voter casts her ballot with her child at a polling station at Rose Hill Elementary School during the midterm primary election in Alexandria, Va., on June 21, 2022. Alex Wong/Getty Images

The Virginia Department of Elections (ELECT) recently confirmed that it corrected errors in the accuracy of the voter lists previously distributed to members of the public who purchased the files.

Democrat state Sen. Dave Marsden said he was glad the errors were found before the June 20 primary.

He is facing Heidi Drauschak in the primary.

Marsden’s campaign said ELECT distributed incomplete voter history data for thousands of same-day registrants and that he has been pursuing more complete and accurate lists from the department since May.

“Recently, it was discovered that same-day voters were not being included on the voter history list available for purchase pursuant to [Section] 24.2-406. This issue is being immediately addressed internally by the development of additional code,” ELECT stated.

“All entities that have purchased a voter history file from ELECT, dating back to January 1, 2023, will automatically receive a new file containing the voter history of applicable same-day registrants. ELECT is working diligently to deliver this information to localities as quickly as possible.”

Virginia’s primaries are fast approaching, which is why Marsden’s campaign was anxious to get the more accurate information from ELECT, allowing the campaign to reach out to more people, the campaign said.

“In Senator Marsden’s district alone, there are 746 voters who utilized same-day registration and had their vote history data affected,” Marsden’s campaign manager, Jimmy Rogers, said.

“We appreciate the Virginia Department of Elections looking into this, and hopefully their error was discovered in time so that campaigns across the commonwealth can update their data and communicate with these voters,” Marsden said in a press statement.

The Virginia General Assembly approved same-day voting legislation in July 2022, allowing Virginians to register to vote at any time, up to and including Election Day. Before that, registration closed 21 days before Election Day.

Voters in Virginia's 7th District wait in line to vote at the Henrico County Registrar’s office in a file photo. Win McNamee/Getty Images

Democrats Loosen Rules

Democrats passed the same-day voter registration law as part of a package of voting reforms designed to increase ballot access and push back against what they called “voter suppression.” Republicans claimed that what Democrats are doing—including eliminating photo ID—undermines election integrity.

When Virginia Democrats had control over the entire lawmaking process in 2020, they passed a package of election-related legislation that Gov. Ralph Northam signed into law. The package included measures to repeal the state’s photo ID requirement, allow early voting, automatically register voters through the Department of Motor Vehicles, allow same-day registration, and create an Election Day holiday.

Twenty-one other states and Washington, D.C., have same-day registration, which permits residents to register to vote and cast a ballot at the same time. One of these states allows people to register and cast an early voting ballot on the same day but not on Election Day, while the rest offer Election Day registration.

Delaware enacted HB 25 in 2022, establishing Election Day registration for presidential primary, primary, special, and general elections, but the law was struck down later that year by the Delaware Supreme Court.

In 2021, Montana passed HB 176, repealing the state’s Election Day registration law and moving the registration deadline to the day before Election Day.

A sign used to recruit election integrity volunteers at a Republican election event in Loudoun County, Va., on June 8, 2023. Masooma Haq/The Epoch Times

Virginia’s Voter Integrity Effort

In response to the voting laws recently enacted by Democrats, including not requiring photo ID, a Republican election integrity group called The Virginia Project initiated a statewide campaign in 2022 to enlist additional election observers, citing an “unprecedented” need.

County-level efforts have also emerged, including in Fairfax County, where the GOP has a campaign to recruit more volunteers in its efforts to ensure fairness and accountability during and after voting.

The Fairfax GOP has called for volunteers to sign up to take part in legislative research and outreach, maintain voter rolls and conduct election result data analysis, ensure chain of custody documentation, enlist election observers, become poll watchers, report issues with voting equipment, and interact with media.

Among their election integrity victories in 2022, the GOP was able to recruit more than 700 Republican election officers and 400 poll watchers who observed and reported on the chain of custody, hand count preprocessing, logic and accuracy testing of equipment, voting materials drop-off locations, final tabulations, canvassing, and provisional ballot adjudication.