Student Voting Guide | Virginia
Registration
http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/Voter_Information/Index.html (registration form available online)
The registration deadline for regularly scheduled elections is 22 days before the election.[1] A mail-in application must be postmarked by that date.[2]
Registration deadlines are later for special elections: you may register seven days before a special election called by the governor or the legislature, and fourteen days before any other special election.[3]
You may register to vote[4] and vote in a primary election[5] if you will be 18 in the next general election.
Residency
At School. It may be difficult for students attending school in Virginia to establish residency for voting purposes at their school address. The state has one of the strictest residency requirements in the country. In order to establish residency, Virginia’s constitution and election laws require that the state be both your “domicile,” meaning that you intend to reside and remain in Virginia, and your “place of abode,” meaning the physical place where you live.[6] Virginia’s Supreme Court has interpreted these requirements to mean that you must intend to remain at your address for an “unlimited time” in order to establish voting residency.[7] The Virginia Supreme Court and the Virginia Attorney General have declared that being a college student “should be treated as a ‘neutral factor’” in determining residency.[8] Local elections officials, however, have a great deal of discretion in determining residency and students attempting to register at their school addresses in Virginia have had many problems in the past.[9] The grey areas in the law lead to ambiguity on what standard election registrars should apply to a student’s intent to make the college residency a permanent residence.[10] Registrar officials “‘ask [the state] for clarification every single year.’”[11] In 2009, the State Board of Elections sought to ease the ambiguity and differences across local precincts by declaring that a dorm or college residence does not disqualify you from registering.[12]
Currently, the web site of the Virginia State Board of Elections includes a series of questions for student voters that may discourage students from asserting voting residency in Virginia, suggesting that doing so could detrimentally affect your parents’ ability to claim you as a dependent on their tax return, your health or car insurance, or your scholarship eligibility.[13] For most students, this is false.[14]
At Home. Students who lived in Virginia before moving elsewhere to attend school, and who wish to establish or keep their Virginia voting residency (i.e., at their parents’ Virginia address), should have no problem doing so unless they have already registered to vote in another state. Like all states, Virginia allows students to keep their voting residency even if they move out of the district to attend school, and the only way you will lose this residency is by establishing residency in a new state. While registering to vote in another state is not automatically considered an abandonment of your Virginia residency, some judges or officials might view it as such.
Challenges to Residency. There are number of ways your residency can be challenged under Virginia law. First, local elections officials may refuse to accept your application. If your registration is denied, you are entitled to written notice of the grounds of denial and can appeal the decision to the circuit court in your city or county within 10 days of the denial. The court must hear your case as soon as possible. If the court finds against you, you may appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia.[15]
After your registration is processed, your eligibility can be challenged by local elections officials or by three qualified voters; if that happens, an elections official must notify you and hold a hearing within ten days to determine whether to cancel your registration.[16] If you fail to appear at the hearing, your registration will be cancelled. You may appeal this decision to the circuit court, and from there to the state’s Supreme Court.[17]
Finally, your eligibility to vote can be challenged at the polls. Any qualified voter may, and election officers must, challenge voters if they believe the voter is not a resident of Virginia or of the precinct.[18] Partisan poll watchers are entitled to be in the polling place, and although there is no specific rule, it appears they are entitled to make challenges as well.[19] The person making the challenge must sign a statement, subject to penalties for hindering, intimidating, or interfering with a qualified voter, at which point the election officer will explain to you the voter qualification requirements and may ask you about your qualifications.[20] If you believe you are qualified and the challenge is not withdrawn, the officer will give you a statement to sign—if you sign it, you will be allowed to vote.[21]
Identification
Virginia has a general identification requirement for all in-person voters, and first-time voters who register by mail or through a registration drive are subject to a separate requirement.
The general identification requirement, for voters who registered in person or who have previously voted in a federal election in Virginia, is to show one of the following at the polls: a Virginia voter registration card; a social security card; a valid Virginia driver’s license, any other ID card issued by a Virginia agency (state or local) or a federal government agency; or any valid employee ID card containing a photograph of the voter.[22] Student IDs with a photo from a Virginia state school will be accepted.[23] If voters do not have ID, they can sign a sworn statement that they are the voter in question and will be allowed to vote by regular ballot.[24]
First-time voters who register by mail must show identification before they vote, either in person at the polling place or by absentee ballot.[25] If you are subject to this requirement and are voting by absentee ballot, you will receive a notice from your local elections office when you request an absentee ballot, instructing you to send a copy of acceptable ID.[26] The following forms of ID are acceptable to fulfill the this requirement: (i) a current and valid photo identification; or (ii) a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other document that shows the name and address of the voter.[27] Student IDs with a photo from public and private universities will fulfill the requirement. Cellular telephone bills and online printouts of utility bills with your name and address on them should also be accepted as ID, as should housing bills from public universities; it is unclear whether housing bills from private universities will suffice.[28] If you do not have sufficient ID, you are entitled to vote by provisional ballot, which will be counted once it is determined that you are an eligible voter.[29]
Absentee Voting
http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/Absentee_Documents/VA_Absentee_ballot_application.pdf
Virginia voters must provide a valid reason for voting absentee. Under Virginia law, these reasons can include attending school outside your county or city, absence from the county or city due to regular business or travel, illness, disability, or some combination of working and commuting for all but two hours that the polling places are open.[30] Virginia law explicitly allows students who are away from home because of their studies to vote absentee,[31] and full-time students are an exception to the general law that all first-time voters must vote in person.[32]
You can complete an application, in person, at the office of the general registrar, up until three days before Election Day.[33] You can mail your application for an absentee ballot to your local elections office (you may even be able to email or fax it), and the application can be downloaded from the web site of the state Board of Elections at the above link.[34] Your mailed application for an absentee ballot must be received by your local voter registration office by 5 p.m. seven days before the election.[35] You must have a witness when you open, mark, and close your absentee ballot, who will need to sign your ballot envelope.[36] Anyone can be a witness.[37] Your ballot must be received by the county before the close of polls on Election Day.[38]
Last Updated in April 2010
[1] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-416 (2010).
[2] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-416.4A.
[3] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-416.
[4] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-403.
[5] FairVote “Voting Age and Registration,” available at http://www.fairvote.org/youth-preregistration-fact-sheet.
[6] Va. Const. Art. II, § 1; Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-101.
[7] Sachs v. Horan, 475 S.E.2d 276, 278 (Va. 1996).
[8] 1971-1972 Op. Att’y Gen. Va. 1965 (quoting Kegley v. Johnson, 147 S.E.2d 735, 737 (Va. 1966)).
[9] In the 1960s and 1970s, Virginia courts consistently ruled against students who challenged denials of their registration in court. See, e.g., Kegley v. Johnson, 147 S.E.2d 735 (Va. 1966); Manard v. Miller, 53 F.R.D. 610 (E.D.Va. 1971).
[10] Kevin Litten, Student Voting Raises Concerns, Roanoke Times, available at http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/175015 (last visited on April 26, 2010).
[11] Id. (quoting Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta).
[12] http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/Voter_Information/Registering_to_Vote/College_Student.html (last visited on April 26, 2010); see also Ryan Platt, “Voting Change Allows Students to Register with College Address,” The Breeze (Sept. 28, 2009), available at http://breezejmu.org/2009/09/28/voting-change-allows-students-to-register-with-college-address/ (last visited on April 26, 2010).
[13] http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/Voter_Information/Registering_to_Vote/College_Student.html.
[14] Under federal law, your voter registration should not have any effect on whether your parents can claim you as a dependent on their tax forms. Attendance at school is considered a “temporary absence” for purposes of determining whether a parent may claim a child as a dependent. See http://www.irs.gov/publications/p501/ar02.html#d0e3180 (last visited on April 26, 2010).
[15] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-422(A).
[16] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-429.
[17] Va. Code Ann. §§ 24.2-430, 24.2-422(A).
[18] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-651.
[19] Va. Code Ann. §§ 24.2-604, 24.2-651.
[20] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-651.
[21] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-651.
[22] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-643B.
[23] Interview with Rosanna Bencoach, Virginia Board of Elections (July 16, 2008).
[24] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-643B.
[25] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-643E.
[26] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-701; Interview with Vickie R. Williams, Virginia Board of Elections (July 16, 2008).
[27] Virginia State Board of Elections, “Voter ID Requirements in Virginia,” available at http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/Voter_Information/Voter_ID_Requirements_in_Virginia.html.
[28] Interview with Rosanna Bencoach, Virginia Board of Elections (July 16, 2008).
[29] Va. Code Ann. §§ 24.2-643 (2010).
[30] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-700.
[31] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-700(3).
[32] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-416.1B(iv).
[33] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-701B(1).
[34] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-701B(2).
[35] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-701B(2).
[36] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-707.
[37] See Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-707.
[38] Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-709.
