I am opposed to these bills that eliminate ballot drop boxes. I work as an Officer of Election on both Election Day and during early voting. Many voters are leery of using the USPS and many voters can't get to the Registrar's Office to deliver a ballot personally. Last year, voters appreciated having the option to deposit their completed ballots in drop boxes. The drop boxes are very secure. They do not increase the opportunity for fraud. Eliminating them creates an undue burden to voters.

I am opposed to these bills that eliminate ballot drop boxes. I work as an Officer of Election on both Election Day and during early voting. Many voters are leery of using the USPS and many voters can't get to the Registrar's Office to deliver a ballot personally. Last year, voters appreciated having the option to deposit their completed ballots in drop boxes. The drop boxes are very secure. They do not increase the opportunity for fraud. Eliminating them creates an undue burden to voters.

Please move to report HB34, 35, 36, 39, 178, 528, 1090, 1141 to protect minority votes which can be diluted by fraudulent votes and places blame unfairly on minorities for questionable voting practices. Against HB177, 196 because those can affect handicapped/disabled. If they are left for them, then no problems.

I support HB's: 34, 35, 36, 39, 177, 178, 196, 198, 528, 1141, because we need to have a system where all Virginia voters can have confidence in the integrity of our elections. Without these reforms, loop holes are left open that can allow third party organizations, or campaigns, to manipulate ballets, steal ballets from voters, or manufacture fraudulent voters. We need election reform now! Thank you.

I'm writing in strong opposition to HB34, HB35, HB36, HB39. HB177, HB178, HB196, and HB198. These bills would clearly and undeniably suppress access to the ballot box in Virginia. We know the Senate is going to vote them down, you might as well spare the trouble and kill these bills in subcommittee. The General Assembly ought to be focused on more important issues than suppressing the right to vote.

Voting should be simple, quick, and accesible to everyone. We have a lot of elderly and/or disabled residents, people who don't have access to a car, or members of the military serving overseas. Our legislators in Richmond should be working to make every Virginia's voice is heard. In addition, returning citizens should be eligible to vote once their sentence is completed. If they've served their time in prison as determined by a judge and/or jury, no purpose is served by denying them the right to vote.

Virginia enacted several new voting laws in 2020 and 2021 to make voting more accessible during the pandemic. Early in-person voting hours were increased, mail-in absentee ballots no longer required a witness signature, more drop-box locations were available. These changes led to record voter turnout (with insignificant fraud) in both the 2020 presidential election and the 2021 gubernatorial election. Therefore I oppose any new bill that would restrict our rights to accessible voting.

Voting is a constitutional right. Any law that restricts rather than expands our constitutional right & DUTY to vote is simply voter suppression. We must not repeal any expansions of absentee ballots. Do not decrease early voting. - extend the number of days allowed. Do not eliminate any ballot box locations- expand. We have no need to re-register absentee ballots every year. No excuse absentee voting is absolutely crucial. The state must provide easy and free access to voter ID if a photo is required. Since the USPS has slowed considerably, we must keep the 3 day rule for receiving ballots after election day. All local elections must be on Election Day (in Nov). Election Day should be a holiday. Until we do a complete overhaul of campaign finance & eliminate dark money/special interests there must be no restrictions on outreach, education & registration or from where a candidate may collect funds. Voter registration up to and including Election Day is absolutely crucial to ensure all citizens vote. I support all bills expanding our rights and abilities to make voting as easy as possible. I oppose all bills attempting to restrict any access to our ballot and our vote. The process is too important for the elected officials to be able to restrict us from our duty to be informed voters. Keep expanding our rights. Do not restrict, suppress or subvert them.

I strongly support the requirement for a photo ID for voter registration and voting (HB46) This is a common sense, no hassle safeguard to defeat fraud. Similarly, we should ELIMINATE same day registration (HB185). There is simply no way to instantaneously verify that a person is who they claim to be. Furthermore, this imposes a huge, unnecessary burden on election officials or those who may be tasked with a forensic audit, etc. I support the reduction of the early voting period (HB39). Two weeks is adequate for those who must be out of town on business, etc. I support limitations on large amounts of outside funding (HB 205). American elections SHOULD NOT be for sale. As a retired Marine officer and current elections official, I am astounded that sober politicians persist in trying to subvert the Constitution (to which they took an oath) and enable voter fraud through the practices as listed above, as well as ballot harvesting and use of unsecured drop boxes! Through its lack of good judgment and integrity, persons on the Loudoun County School Board have already made us a nationally known laughingstock. Let's pray that similarly minded people in the State Senate DON'T expand our shame by opening our election processes open to rampant fraud.

I'm a Virginian in favor of safeguarding the election process. Since I am an Arlington county election officer, I know that preventing election fraud requires voters to be citizens verifiable by free voter ID and a verifiable pre-election day registration process. 14 days is plenty of time to vote. Same day voter registration is wrong because there is no way to verify eligibility and identity. The 45 day election season is an expensive use of taxpayer dollars for election operations. The longer election period provides greater opportunity for fraud and abuse by felons, identity thieves, or illegal inhabitants. It also is burdensome to unpaid poll watchers and other election operations volunteers. Increased demands on the postal service to deliver absentee ballots is asking for chaos and mass disenfranchisement. Election results will take longer to tabulate if there is a massive amount of mail-in voting. Absentee ballots make it much easier to forge a signature, impersonate a voter, or buy a vote in the privacy of one’s home than it is in a voting booth at the polls where oversight occurs. These are common sense election procedures.

I am opposed to proposed legislation that requires excuses for absentee voting, shortens the in-person absentee voting time period, and/or eliminates the permanent Absentee Ballot List. I have worked as an Officer of Election since 2016. I serve as a Precinct Chief on Election Day and work during early voting. 1. Voters enthusiastically embraced "no excuse needed" absentee voting in 2021. I constantly heard them express relief at not having to worry about being sick on Election Day, deal with bad weather, or having an unforeseen emergency arise that would keep them from voting on Election Day. Having people vote absentee also eased the pressure on Officers working on Election day. We were still very busy but the crowds were more manageable than in past years. Requiring an excuse to vote early does not increase security in my opinion. 2. Shortening the in-person early voting period to 11 days (beginning 14 days before the election) also puts voters in a difficult position. Voters prefer to place their completed ballots in a scanner. It is difficult for some people to get time off from work to vote and compressing their access will disenfranchise voters. Also, voting early in person was very popular with college students, as they report they have difficulty receiving mail in a timely manner (I processed a significant number of college students in October when they were home for fall break.) 3. Eliminating the Permanent Absentee Ballot List and requiring annual requests puts an undue burden on those voters who qualify for this process. In particular, elderly and disabled voters should not have to prove their conditions annually.

Please move to report HB34, 35, 36, 39, 178, 528, 1090, 1141 to protect minority votes which can be diluted by fraudulent votes and places blame unfairly on minorities for questionable voting practices. Against HB177, 196 because those can affect handicapped/disabled. If they are left for them, then no problems.

My name is Paula Kallay and I have been an election officer in Spotsylvania County for 11 years. I would encourage this sub-committee to vote in favor of shortening early voting from 45 days to 14 days. 14 days with offices open from 9-5 and offering 2 Saturdays before election day should give voters sufficient time to cast their vote. What has been required to increase the voting period from 14 to 45 days? - Challenges finding qualified personnel to staff more than triple the “man hours” at voting places - Effectively more than tripling the expense of the increased personnel requirements - Increased costs associated with maintaining offices for an additional 31 days What have we gotten for the expense and effort? - Precise data has not been completely collected yet, but in Spotsylvania this year, early voting started on January 1st. 27 days into early voting we have had just over 100 people vote. Most likely, most of them could have voted later or by absentee ballot. Is the state really getting its money’s worth?

I support HB's: 34, 35, 36, 39, 177, 178, 196, 198, 528, 1141, because we need to have a system where all Virginia voters can have confidence in the integrity of our elections. Without these reforms, loop holes are left open that can allow third party organizations, or campaigns, to manipulate ballets, steal ballets from voters, or manufacture fraudulent voters. We need election reform now! Thank you.

I'm writing in strong opposition to HB34, HB35, HB36, HB39. HB177, HB178, HB196, and HB198. These bills would clearly and undeniably suppress access to the ballot box in Virginia. We know the Senate is going to vote them down, you might as well spare the trouble and kill these bills in subcommittee. The General Assembly ought to be focused on more important issues than suppressing the right to vote.

Hello, I am Sami Watson, Field Coordinator with Hamkae Center. We work with Asian American voters across the state and we oppose House Bill 39. Data shows that Asian Americans increased their voter turnout by more than any other racial demographic between 2016 and 2020, and that Asian Americans are increasingly voting early and absentee. Therefore, any restrictions on early and absentee voting would limit Asian American voter turnout. Thank you for your time.

Election Integrity guarantees our voice is heard and the we can trust the system. It is foundational to the backbone of this country. It has been my astonishing revelation that this most SACRED of all abilities - believed to be held UP- in such esteem and REVERENCE yet in reality is trampled upon, disrespected and disgraced , given away with no value whatsoever in order to game the system. It is totally and completely unprotected. IT is UNTRUE. This reminds me of the snake oil salesmen who came into towns in the early days selling fakery and un-truths. As the American people come learn the truth - it IS happening now folks, make no mistake, they will ask the leadership to answer for this'd hold you accountable for this bait and switch. WE need real election integrity for LEGAL CITIZENS ONLY. WE NEED PRISTINELY CLEAN VOTER ROLLS. Here is the list of what we must do to repair and restore the trust of the American People. Establish laws enabling forensic audits and voter canvass Repeal same day voter registration Repeal no voter identification Repeal the permanent absentee ballot list Repeal no-excuse AB Repeal 3rd party mailing of AB Repeal ballot harvesting Eliminate AB drop boxes. We also want 1 day of voting, but anything less than 45 days would be better than nothing. Do not accept AB after Election DAY. Repeal pre-registration of 16 year olds Repeal automatic voter registration by DMV Please vote appropriately on ALL bills in support of these goals. Angela Boyer Great Falls Va 22066

It is very important that Virginia has an uncomplicated and accessible method of voting for every citizen to register their preference. Fraud is not a big problem, so obstacles should not be placed in the way of voters.

Voting should be simple, quick, and accesible to everyone. We have a lot of elderly and/or disabled residents, people who don't have access to a car, or members of the military serving overseas. Our legislators in Richmond should be working to make every Virginia's voice is heard. In addition, returning citizens should be eligible to vote once their sentence is completed. If they've served their time in prison as determined by a judge and/or jury, no purpose is served by denying them the right to vote.

Virginia enacted several new voting laws in 2020 and 2021 to make voting more accessible during the pandemic. Early in-person voting hours were increased, mail-in absentee ballots no longer required a witness signature, more drop-box locations were available. These changes led to record voter turnout (with insignificant fraud) in both the 2020 presidential election and the 2021 gubernatorial election. Therefore I oppose any new bill that would restrict our rights to accessible voting.

Voting is a constitutional right. Any law that restricts rather than expands our constitutional right & DUTY to vote is simply voter suppression. We must not repeal any expansions of absentee ballots. Do not decrease early voting. - extend the number of days allowed. Do not eliminate any ballot box locations- expand. We have no need to re-register absentee ballots every year. No excuse absentee voting is absolutely crucial. The state must provide easy and free access to voter ID if a photo is required. Since the USPS has slowed considerably, we must keep the 3 day rule for receiving ballots after election day. All local elections must be on Election Day (in Nov). Election Day should be a holiday. Until we do a complete overhaul of campaign finance & eliminate dark money/special interests there must be no restrictions on outreach, education & registration or from where a candidate may collect funds. Voter registration up to and including Election Day is absolutely crucial to ensure all citizens vote. I support all bills expanding our rights and abilities to make voting as easy as possible. I oppose all bills attempting to restrict any access to our ballot and our vote. The process is too important for the elected officials to be able to restrict us from our duty to be informed voters. Keep expanding our rights. Do not restrict, suppress or subvert them.

Please move to report HB54, 149, 175,310, 398, 441, 945, 956.

I am opposed to eliminating the permanent Absentee Ballot List. HB 196 requires voters to submit a request for each election and HB 175 requires an annual request process. Eliminating the Permanent Absentee Ballot List and requiring annual and repeated requests puts an undue burden on those voters who qualify for this process. In particular, elderly and disabled voters should not have to prove their conditions annually. HB 310 goes further and limits this list to only ill or disabled persons who are then required to file annually for ballots. This is unfair to people who are managing long-term health challenges. Further, HB 310 forbids providing postage-paid return envelopes. Requiring voters to have stamps sounds straight-forward but getting stamps proves difficult for some people. All of these measures make voting harder and do not provide any additional voting security.

Election Integrity guarantees our voice is heard and the we can trust the system. It is foundational to the backbone of this country. It has been my astonishing revelation that this most SACRED of all abilities - believed to be held UP- in such esteem and REVERENCE yet in reality is trampled upon, disrespected and disgraced , given away with no value whatsoever in order to game the system. It is totally and completely unprotected. IT is UNTRUE. This reminds me of the snake oil salesmen who came into towns in the early days selling fakery and un-truths. As the American people come learn the truth - it IS happening now folks, make no mistake, they will ask the leadership to answer for this'd hold you accountable for this bait and switch. WE need real election integrity for LEGAL CITIZENS ONLY. WE NEED PRISTINELY CLEAN VOTER ROLLS. Here is the list of what we must do to repair and restore the trust of the American People. Establish laws enabling forensic audits and voter canvass Repeal same day voter registration Repeal no voter identification Repeal the permanent absentee ballot list Repeal no-excuse AB Repeal 3rd party mailing of AB Repeal ballot harvesting Eliminate AB drop boxes. We also want 1 day of voting, but anything less than 45 days would be better than nothing. Do not accept AB after Election DAY. Repeal pre-registration of 16 year olds Repeal automatic voter registration by DMV Please vote appropriately on ALL bills in support of these goals. Angela Boyer Great Falls Va 22066

HB 1090 I am strongly opposed to reinstating the requirement to provide a photo ID in order to cast a ballot in Virginia. During the last election and I was handing out information, a distraught elderly woman and told me she was refused her right to vote because she had no photo ID. I was able to tell her that a photo ID was no longer necessary if she had some official document with her name and address on it. Fortunately, she had a utility bill with that information. She returned to the polling station, showed it to the worker and was able to vote. As she left the building, she told me that she was too old to drive and had no ID with a photo on it, so she was thrilled to learn that her right to vote had not been taken from her. Please don't deprive elderly citizens from exercising their constitutional right to participate in our democracy.

Voting should be simple, quick, and accesible to everyone. We have a lot of elderly and/or disabled residents, people who don't have access to a car, or members of the military serving overseas. Our legislators in Richmond should be working to make every Virginia's voice is heard. In addition, returning citizens should be eligible to vote once their sentence is completed. If they've served their time in prison as determined by a judge and/or jury, no purpose is served by denying them the right to vote.

Virginia enacted several new voting laws in 2020 and 2021 to make voting more accessible during the pandemic. Early in-person voting hours were increased, mail-in absentee ballots no longer required a witness signature, more drop-box locations were available. These changes led to record voter turnout (with insignificant fraud) in both the 2020 presidential election and the 2021 gubernatorial election. Therefore I oppose any new bill that would restrict our rights to accessible voting.

Voting is a constitutional right. Any law that restricts rather than expands our constitutional right & DUTY to vote is simply voter suppression. We must not repeal any expansions of absentee ballots. Do not decrease early voting. - extend the number of days allowed. Do not eliminate any ballot box locations- expand. We have no need to re-register absentee ballots every year. No excuse absentee voting is absolutely crucial. The state must provide easy and free access to voter ID if a photo is required. Since the USPS has slowed considerably, we must keep the 3 day rule for receiving ballots after election day. All local elections must be on Election Day (in Nov). Election Day should be a holiday. Until we do a complete overhaul of campaign finance & eliminate dark money/special interests there must be no restrictions on outreach, education & registration or from where a candidate may collect funds. Voter registration up to and including Election Day is absolutely crucial to ensure all citizens vote. I support all bills expanding our rights and abilities to make voting as easy as possible. I oppose all bills attempting to restrict any access to our ballot and our vote. The process is too important for the elected officials to be able to restrict us from our duty to be informed voters. Keep expanding our rights. Do not restrict, suppress or subvert them.

Voting should be easy and available That means that voters should have every option available to them, including No-excuse absentee voting, mail in voting, in person early voting and in person election day voting at enough locations to prevent long lines. The photo ID requirement is based on a false narrative around a kind of fraud that does not happen so a photo ID should not be required. Mobile device voting should be available. I can bank and pay my taxes from my computer or phone, I should be able to vote that way as well

I agree with the elimination of a required witness signature for an absentee ballot. However, I suggest that a voter be able to provide EITHER the last four digits of their Social Security number OR their complete Virginia Drivers License number. Many people are concerned about using even a portion of their Social Security on paperwork. I believe using their Virginia Drivers License number would be an equally secure way to verify their identity.

Please move to report HB34, 35, 36, 39, 178, 528, 1090, 1141 to protect minority votes which can be diluted by fraudulent votes and places blame unfairly on minorities for questionable voting practices. Against HB177, 196 because those can affect handicapped/disabled. If they are left for them, then no problems.

I support HB's: 34, 35, 36, 39, 177, 178, 196, 198, 528, 1141, because we need to have a system where all Virginia voters can have confidence in the integrity of our elections. Without these reforms, loop holes are left open that can allow third party organizations, or campaigns, to manipulate ballets, steal ballets from voters, or manufacture fraudulent voters. We need election reform now! Thank you.

I'm writing in strong opposition to HB34, HB35, HB36, HB39. HB177, HB178, HB196, and HB198. These bills would clearly and undeniably suppress access to the ballot box in Virginia. We know the Senate is going to vote them down, you might as well spare the trouble and kill these bills in subcommittee. The General Assembly ought to be focused on more important issues than suppressing the right to vote.

Election Integrity guarantees our voice is heard and the we can trust the system. It is foundational to the backbone of this country. It has been my astonishing revelation that this most SACRED of all abilities - believed to be held UP- in such esteem and REVERENCE yet in reality is trampled upon, disrespected and disgraced , given away with no value whatsoever in order to game the system. It is totally and completely unprotected. IT is UNTRUE. This reminds me of the snake oil salesmen who came into towns in the early days selling fakery and un-truths. As the American people come learn the truth - it IS happening now folks, make no mistake, they will ask the leadership to answer for this'd hold you accountable for this bait and switch. WE need real election integrity for LEGAL CITIZENS ONLY. WE NEED PRISTINELY CLEAN VOTER ROLLS. Here is the list of what we must do to repair and restore the trust of the American People. Establish laws enabling forensic audits and voter canvass Repeal same day voter registration Repeal no voter identification Repeal the permanent absentee ballot list Repeal no-excuse AB Repeal 3rd party mailing of AB Repeal ballot harvesting Eliminate AB drop boxes. We also want 1 day of voting, but anything less than 45 days would be better than nothing. Do not accept AB after Election DAY. Repeal pre-registration of 16 year olds Repeal automatic voter registration by DMV Please vote appropriately on ALL bills in support of these goals. Angela Boyer Great Falls Va 22066

It is very important that Virginia has an uncomplicated and accessible method of voting for every citizen to register their preference. Fraud is not a big problem, so obstacles should not be placed in the way of voters.

Voting should be simple, quick, and accesible to everyone. We have a lot of elderly and/or disabled residents, people who don't have access to a car, or members of the military serving overseas. Our legislators in Richmond should be working to make every Virginia's voice is heard. In addition, returning citizens should be eligible to vote once their sentence is completed. If they've served their time in prison as determined by a judge and/or jury, no purpose is served by denying them the right to vote.

Virginia enacted several new voting laws in 2020 and 2021 to make voting more accessible during the pandemic. Early in-person voting hours were increased, mail-in absentee ballots no longer required a witness signature, more drop-box locations were available. These changes led to record voter turnout (with insignificant fraud) in both the 2020 presidential election and the 2021 gubernatorial election. Therefore I oppose any new bill that would restrict our rights to accessible voting.

Voting is a constitutional right. Any law that restricts rather than expands our constitutional right & DUTY to vote is simply voter suppression. We must not repeal any expansions of absentee ballots. Do not decrease early voting. - extend the number of days allowed. Do not eliminate any ballot box locations- expand. We have no need to re-register absentee ballots every year. No excuse absentee voting is absolutely crucial. The state must provide easy and free access to voter ID if a photo is required. Since the USPS has slowed considerably, we must keep the 3 day rule for receiving ballots after election day. All local elections must be on Election Day (in Nov). Election Day should be a holiday. Until we do a complete overhaul of campaign finance & eliminate dark money/special interests there must be no restrictions on outreach, education & registration or from where a candidate may collect funds. Voter registration up to and including Election Day is absolutely crucial to ensure all citizens vote. I support all bills expanding our rights and abilities to make voting as easy as possible. I oppose all bills attempting to restrict any access to our ballot and our vote. The process is too important for the elected officials to be able to restrict us from our duty to be informed voters. Keep expanding our rights. Do not restrict, suppress or subvert them.

I am in favor of these bills to ensure honest and accurate election counts in the state of Virginia. This would include bills HB 1090, 1101, 1109, 121, 196,24,941,942,945,956 and HJ 65.

I work help desk in my local precinct. I can't believe the number of voters that come in to vote only to find out that they have been issued an absentee ballot. They don't know where the ballot is, did not request it and can't understand why they either have to come up with the absentee ballot or vote provisional. Oh yes, they understand provisional and want no part of it. REPEAL THE PERMANENT ABSENTEE VOTER LIST NOW!! This is a no brainer that we should all be able to agree on!! JWV

I am opposed to proposed legislation that requires excuses for absentee voting, shortens the in-person absentee voting time period, and/or eliminates the permanent Absentee Ballot List. I have worked as an Officer of Election since 2016. I serve as a Precinct Chief on Election Day and work during early voting. 1. Voters enthusiastically embraced "no excuse needed" absentee voting in 2021. I constantly heard them express relief at not having to worry about being sick on Election Day, deal with bad weather, or having an unforeseen emergency arise that would keep them from voting on Election Day. Having people vote absentee also eased the pressure on Officers working on Election day. We were still very busy but the crowds were more manageable than in past years. Requiring an excuse to vote early does not increase security in my opinion. 2. Shortening the in-person early voting period to 11 days (beginning 14 days before the election) also puts voters in a difficult position. Voters prefer to place their completed ballots in a scanner. It is difficult for some people to get time off from work to vote and compressing their access will disenfranchise voters. Also, voting early in person was very popular with college students, as they report they have difficulty receiving mail in a timely manner (I processed a significant number of college students in October when they were home for fall break.) 3. Eliminating the Permanent Absentee Ballot List and requiring annual requests puts an undue burden on those voters who qualify for this process. In particular, elderly and disabled voters should not have to prove their conditions annually.

Please move to report HB34, 35, 36, 39, 178, 528, 1090, 1141 to protect minority votes which can be diluted by fraudulent votes and places blame unfairly on minorities for questionable voting practices. Against HB177, 196 because those can affect handicapped/disabled. If they are left for them, then no problems.

I support HB's: 34, 35, 36, 39, 177, 178, 196, 198, 528, 1141, because we need to have a system where all Virginia voters can have confidence in the integrity of our elections. Without these reforms, loop holes are left open that can allow third party organizations, or campaigns, to manipulate ballets, steal ballets from voters, or manufacture fraudulent voters. We need election reform now! Thank you.

I'm writing in strong opposition to HB34, HB35, HB36, HB39. HB177, HB178, HB196, and HB198. These bills would clearly and undeniably suppress access to the ballot box in Virginia. We know the Senate is going to vote them down, you might as well spare the trouble and kill these bills in subcommittee. The General Assembly ought to be focused on more important issues than suppressing the right to vote.

Voting should be simple, quick, and accesible to everyone. We have a lot of elderly and/or disabled residents, people who don't have access to a car, or members of the military serving overseas. Our legislators in Richmond should be working to make every Virginia's voice is heard. In addition, returning citizens should be eligible to vote once their sentence is completed. If they've served their time in prison as determined by a judge and/or jury, no purpose is served by denying them the right to vote.

Virginia enacted several new voting laws in 2020 and 2021 to make voting more accessible during the pandemic. Early in-person voting hours were increased, mail-in absentee ballots no longer required a witness signature, more drop-box locations were available. These changes led to record voter turnout (with insignificant fraud) in both the 2020 presidential election and the 2021 gubernatorial election. Therefore I oppose any new bill that would restrict our rights to accessible voting.

Voting is a constitutional right. Any law that restricts rather than expands our constitutional right & DUTY to vote is simply voter suppression. We must not repeal any expansions of absentee ballots. Do not decrease early voting. - extend the number of days allowed. Do not eliminate any ballot box locations- expand. We have no need to re-register absentee ballots every year. No excuse absentee voting is absolutely crucial. The state must provide easy and free access to voter ID if a photo is required. Since the USPS has slowed considerably, we must keep the 3 day rule for receiving ballots after election day. All local elections must be on Election Day (in Nov). Election Day should be a holiday. Until we do a complete overhaul of campaign finance & eliminate dark money/special interests there must be no restrictions on outreach, education & registration or from where a candidate may collect funds. Voter registration up to and including Election Day is absolutely crucial to ensure all citizens vote. I support all bills expanding our rights and abilities to make voting as easy as possible. I oppose all bills attempting to restrict any access to our ballot and our vote. The process is too important for the elected officials to be able to restrict us from our duty to be informed voters. Keep expanding our rights. Do not restrict, suppress or subvert them.

I support HB 205 to prohibit private financing from influencing the General Registrar activities, including hiring staff or contractors, paying for or providing free training, and purchasing equipment. We need to keep elections and the staff that run them free from conflicts of interest. HB 205 will increase trust in elections by keeping the influence of private money out of election system operations. Billionaires should not be allowed to buy up and influence the nonpartisan election operations. Virginians deserve to know their votes will be counted by someone free from outside influence and partisan funding.

I strongly support the requirement for a photo ID for voter registration and voting (HB46) This is a common sense, no hassle safeguard to defeat fraud. Similarly, we should ELIMINATE same day registration (HB185). There is simply no way to instantaneously verify that a person is who they claim to be. Furthermore, this imposes a huge, unnecessary burden on election officials or those who may be tasked with a forensic audit, etc. I support the reduction of the early voting period (HB39). Two weeks is adequate for those who must be out of town on business, etc. I support limitations on large amounts of outside funding (HB 205). American elections SHOULD NOT be for sale. As a retired Marine officer and current elections official, I am astounded that sober politicians persist in trying to subvert the Constitution (to which they took an oath) and enable voter fraud through the practices as listed above, as well as ballot harvesting and use of unsecured drop boxes! Through its lack of good judgment and integrity, persons on the Loudoun County School Board have already made us a nationally known laughingstock. Let's pray that similarly minded people in the State Senate DON'T expand our shame by opening our election processes open to rampant fraud.

I'm a Virginian in favor of safeguarding the election process. Since I am an Arlington county election officer, I know that preventing election fraud requires voters to be citizens verifiable by free voter ID and a verifiable pre-election day registration process. 14 days is plenty of time to vote. Same day voter registration is wrong because there is no way to verify eligibility and identity. The 45 day election season is an expensive use of taxpayer dollars for election operations. The longer election period provides greater opportunity for fraud and abuse by felons, identity thieves, or illegal inhabitants. It also is burdensome to unpaid poll watchers and other election operations volunteers. Increased demands on the postal service to deliver absentee ballots is asking for chaos and mass disenfranchisement. Election results will take longer to tabulate if there is a massive amount of mail-in voting. Absentee ballots make it much easier to forge a signature, impersonate a voter, or buy a vote in the privacy of one’s home than it is in a voting booth at the polls where oversight occurs. These are common sense election procedures.

This bill prohibits private financing from influencing General Registrar activity . Please support this bill . Election officials are there to guarantee a fair election free from fraud and voter tampering. Absolutely no gifts of funding should be allowed in order to safeguard the election process.

HB205 would make it illegal for an election official to accept money from any individual or entity except the government to fund an election, protecting public elections from influence by private wealthy individuals and entities. HB305 would increase the number of members of the State Board of Elections from five to six, three members from each party. Currently, the Commissioner of Elections is appointed by the Governor, but if this bill is adopted the Commissioner would now be appointed by a supermajority of the State Board of Elections instead. The bill also includes provisions to improve accuracy of the voting roll, require voter ID, require election audits, better manage drop off locations, and more.

Comments Document

Dear Chairman Ransone, Representative Wachsmann, distinguished Members of the Committee: Thank you for allowing me to submit this testimony. I’m Scott Walter, a resident of Sterling, Virginia, and president of the Capital Research Center in Washington, D.C., a 37-year-old think tank that is a watchdog on nonprofits. I do not presume to tell you how to vote on H.B. 205 but only to tell you, as an expert on nonprofit funding, the question you face: Should the Commonwealth’s elections be governed by you, the people’s representatives, or by megadonors? Personally, as a Virginia citizen I do not want donors—from anywhere on the political spectrum—or the nonprofits they use, to manipulate elections through gifts to government offices. I want you, our democratically elected officials, to regulate Virginia’s elections, not megadonors from either party. Neither donors nor “nonpartisan” nonprofits can be trusted to keep their thumbs off the scale when they have millions in their hands. I was not surprised after testifying to your Senate counterparts to see that every single committee member from both parties recognized the dangers I am describing and voted to pass a similar bill. At Capital Research Center, we have studied exhaustively one megadonor’s use of two supposedly nonpartisan nonprofits to send funds to government election offices in nearly every state, to the documented benefit of his preferred political party. But because this is a bipartisan problem, I won’t name either party in my testimony. While one party benefitted dramatically in 2020, next time the other party’s donors may pull the same trick. All of us should want to avoid that. I’ll call the lucky folks last time, “Party 1,” and the main “nonpartisan” nonprofit that benefitted them “Group 1.” Group 1 received hundreds of millions of dollars in 2020 from one out-of-state billionaire. Nearly 4 million of those dollars came into government election offices in Virginia. The critical question is how much money went to which election offices. I am not claiming the money funded fraud, only that it funded turnout targeted to help one side. For the sake of argument, I am happy to assume that not one vote in Virginia was cast fraudulently, and not one vote was miscounted. Even if that were true, it is scandalous that this outside money boosted turnout for Party 1 in its most vote-rich jurisdictions. This is a new scheme in our politics, but we all know that when one party crafts a novel weapon and wins, the other party will add the weapon to its arsenal. Do you want to keep this legal loophole open and allow such an arms race? Our analysis found that a pattern repeats in every battleground state. First, Group 1 is far more likely to fund election jurisdictions that are rich with Party 1 votes. Second, it funds those jurisdictions much more heavily per capita. Election expert J. Christian Adams sums it up: Group 1’s cash “converted election offices in key jurisdictions with deep reservoirs of [Party 1] votes into Formula One turnout machines.” That’s what happened last time. Next time, the opposite could happen—if you allow it. Thank you. (Attached is a breakdown of the specifics in the Virginia 2020 election.)

HB71 - VEPCO's comments on 2/1/22 were that they had first amendment rights. They do, but NOT to run this state and its people into the ground in the name of profits. Virginia: owned and operated by VEPCO is a saying that should not occur but it is. HB85, HB174, 205, 524, 575, 973, 1296, 1302 - This helps the people. Please move to report.

HB205: This legislation would make it illegal for an election official to accept money from any individual or entity except the government to fund an election, protecting public elections from influence by private wealthy individuals and entities. HB71: If adopted, this bill would add protection from bias to elections. It would protect from corruption in the marketplace by prohibiting public utility entities from making financial contributions to candidates campaigning for political office.

All bills that will reflect a stronger more secure election in the future. Considering both sides, Trump and Biden, have spoken in regards to those concerns, these should be reported on with bipartisan approval. Thank you.

I support both these bills. Private money brings in and opens the door to corruption.

I support these bills. As demonstrated in similar instances, private money opens the door to signifant risk of corruption untelible for our great Commonwealth annd her constituents.

I support these bills. Private money brings in and opens the door to corruption.

I strongly support these bills.

I support these bills. Private money causes corruption.

I support these bills. Private money brings in and opens the door to corruption.

I am in favor of HB205 HB1101

HB205 and HB1101

I support these bills. Private money brings in and opens the door to corruption.

I support these bills to keep private money, gifts from buying off state and local elections and officials in Virginia. Even under the purest motives, private election funding given to government offices is inappropriate and creates distrust. I am a minority here in Virginia. We work hard to take good care of our family. I am not a millionaire or billionaire, and I have no issue with those who are, but they should NOT be allowed to buy off our election officials and their offices. It is wrong to allow private funding of our government offices by anyone. Thank you for appreciating my position. Please show your support for minorities and regular Virginians by supporting

If you care about Virginia and every person as a voter, I urge you to pass HB205 - Wachsmann and also HB1101 – LaRock to keep private money from influencing and buying off state and local elections and officials in Virginia. The companion bill to this was passed yesterday in the Senate P&E committee it is now up to you to pass this bill in the House P&E! Even under the purest motives, private election funding given to government offices is inappropriate and creates distrust. We work hard to take good care of our family. I am not a millionaire or billionaire, and I have no issue with those who are, but they should not be allowed to buy off our election officials and their offices. It is wrong to allow private funding of our government offices by anyone. Thank you for appreciating my position. Please show your support for minorities and regular Virginians by supporting HB205 - Wachsmann and also HB1101 – LaRock today in this committee. Do not pass it by or lay it on the table, but vote YES and pass it out of committee. Thank you

Voting is a constitutional right. Any law that restricts rather than expands our constitutional right & DUTY to vote is simply voter suppression. We must not repeal any expansions of absentee ballots. Do not decrease early voting. - extend the number of days allowed. Do not eliminate any ballot box locations- expand. We have no need to re-register absentee ballots every year. No excuse absentee voting is absolutely crucial. The state must provide easy and free access to voter ID if a photo is required. Since the USPS has slowed considerably, we must keep the 3 day rule for receiving ballots after election day. All local elections must be on Election Day (in Nov). Election Day should be a holiday. Until we do a complete overhaul of campaign finance & eliminate dark money/special interests there must be no restrictions on outreach, education & registration or from where a candidate may collect funds. Voter registration up to and including Election Day is absolutely crucial to ensure all citizens vote. I support all bills expanding our rights and abilities to make voting as easy as possible. I oppose all bills attempting to restrict any access to our ballot and our vote. The process is too important for the elected officials to be able to restrict us from our duty to be informed voters. Keep expanding our rights. Do not restrict, suppress or subvert them.

Virginia enacted several new voting laws in 2020 and 2021 to make voting more accessible during the pandemic. Early in-person voting hours were increased, mail-in absentee ballots no longer required a witness signature, more drop-box locations were available. These changes led to record voter turnout (with insignificant fraud) in both the 2020 presidential election and the 2021 gubernatorial election. Therefore I oppose any new bill that would restrict our rights to accessible voting.

Voting is a constitutional right. Any law that restricts rather than expands our constitutional right & DUTY to vote is simply voter suppression. We must not repeal any expansions of absentee ballots. Do not decrease early voting. - extend the number of days allowed. Do not eliminate any ballot box locations- expand. We have no need to re-register absentee ballots every year. No excuse absentee voting is absolutely crucial. The state must provide easy and free access to voter ID if a photo is required. Since the USPS has slowed considerably, we must keep the 3 day rule for receiving ballots after election day. All local elections must be on Election Day (in Nov). Election Day should be a holiday. Until we do a complete overhaul of campaign finance & eliminate dark money/special interests there must be no restrictions on outreach, education & registration or from where a candidate may collect funds. Voter registration up to and including Election Day is absolutely crucial to ensure all citizens vote. I support all bills expanding our rights and abilities to make voting as easy as possible. I oppose all bills attempting to restrict any access to our ballot and our vote. The process is too important for the elected officials to be able to restrict us from our duty to be informed voters. Keep expanding our rights. Do not restrict, suppress or subvert them.

Please move to report HB34, 35, 36, 39, 178, 528, 1090, 1141 to protect minority votes which can be diluted by fraudulent votes and places blame unfairly on minorities for questionable voting practices. Against HB177, 196 because those can affect handicapped/disabled. If they are left for them, then no problems.

I support HB's: 34, 35, 36, 39, 177, 178, 196, 198, 528, 1141, because we need to have a system where all Virginia voters can have confidence in the integrity of our elections. Without these reforms, loop holes are left open that can allow third party organizations, or campaigns, to manipulate ballets, steal ballets from voters, or manufacture fraudulent voters. We need election reform now! Thank you.

Election Integrity guarantees our voice is heard and the we can trust the system. It is foundational to the backbone of this country. It has been my astonishing revelation that this most SACRED of all abilities - believed to be held UP- in such esteem and REVERENCE yet in reality is trampled upon, disrespected and disgraced , given away with no value whatsoever in order to game the system. It is totally and completely unprotected. IT is UNTRUE. This reminds me of the snake oil salesmen who came into towns in the early days selling fakery and un-truths. As the American people come learn the truth - it IS happening now folks, make no mistake, they will ask the leadership to answer for this'd hold you accountable for this bait and switch. WE need real election integrity for LEGAL CITIZENS ONLY. WE NEED PRISTINELY CLEAN VOTER ROLLS. Here is the list of what we must do to repair and restore the trust of the American People. Establish laws enabling forensic audits and voter canvass Repeal same day voter registration Repeal no voter identification Repeal the permanent absentee ballot list Repeal no-excuse AB Repeal 3rd party mailing of AB Repeal ballot harvesting Eliminate AB drop boxes. We also want 1 day of voting, but anything less than 45 days would be better than nothing. Do not accept AB after Election DAY. Repeal pre-registration of 16 year olds Repeal automatic voter registration by DMV Please vote appropriately on ALL bills in support of these goals. Angela Boyer Great Falls Va 22066

Voting is a constitutional right. Any law that restricts rather than expands our constitutional right & DUTY to vote is simply voter suppression. We must not repeal any expansions of absentee ballots. Do not decrease early voting. - extend the number of days allowed. Do not eliminate any ballot box locations- expand. We have no need to re-register absentee ballots every year. No excuse absentee voting is absolutely crucial. The state must provide easy and free access to voter ID if a photo is required. Since the USPS has slowed considerably, we must keep the 3 day rule for receiving ballots after election day. All local elections must be on Election Day (in Nov). Election Day should be a holiday. Until we do a complete overhaul of campaign finance & eliminate dark money/special interests there must be no restrictions on outreach, education & registration or from where a candidate may collect funds. Voter registration up to and including Election Day is absolutely crucial to ensure all citizens vote. I support all bills expanding our rights and abilities to make voting as easy as possible. I oppose all bills attempting to restrict any access to our ballot and our vote. The process is too important for the elected officials to be able to restrict us from our duty to be informed voters. Keep expanding our rights. Do not restrict, suppress or subvert them.

I am opposed to HB 54, HB 398, and HB 927 because they require physically sorting ballots by precinct on election day. Important note: I support reporting precinct-level detail on absentee votes. That can be done by the scanning machines being programmed correctly and ballots including correct coding to indicate the precinct to which a voter is assigned. Yes, that requires multiple ballots for each locality but that is do-able (though more expensive). What I am opposed to is the physical sorting of the completed ballots. Having to empty a scanner in the Central Absentee Precinct and hand-sort the ballots into separate piles will be very time-consuming. As these bills are currently written, will have to be done before the election can be closed out on Election Day. That makes an already long day many hours longer and does not add any security or additional information. I support HB 441 which still gives precinct-level absentee ballot counts but does not require physically sorting ballots by precinct before or on Election Day.

I support HB-927 in the interest of election integrity.

Election Integrity guarantees our voice is heard and the we can trust the system. It is foundational to the backbone of this country. It has been my astonishing revelation that this most SACRED of all abilities - believed to be held UP- in such esteem and REVERENCE yet in reality is trampled upon, disrespected and disgraced , given away with no value whatsoever in order to game the system. It is totally and completely unprotected. IT is UNTRUE. This reminds me of the snake oil salesmen who came into towns in the early days selling fakery and un-truths. As the American people come learn the truth - it IS happening now folks, make no mistake, they will ask the leadership to answer for this'd hold you accountable for this bait and switch. WE need real election integrity for LEGAL CITIZENS ONLY. WE NEED PRISTINELY CLEAN VOTER ROLLS. Here is the list of what we must do to repair and restore the trust of the American People. Establish laws enabling forensic audits and voter canvass Repeal same day voter registration Repeal no voter identification Repeal the permanent absentee ballot list Repeal no-excuse AB Repeal 3rd party mailing of AB Repeal ballot harvesting Eliminate AB drop boxes. We also want 1 day of voting, but anything less than 45 days would be better than nothing. Do not accept AB after Election DAY. Repeal pre-registration of 16 year olds Repeal automatic voter registration by DMV Please vote appropriately on ALL bills in support of these goals. Angela Boyer Great Falls Va 22066

Voting should be simple, quick, and accesible to everyone. We have a lot of elderly and/or disabled residents, people who don't have access to a car, or members of the military serving overseas. Our legislators in Richmond should be working to make every Virginia's voice is heard. In addition, returning citizens should be eligible to vote once their sentence is completed. If they've served their time in prison as determined by a judge and/or jury, no purpose is served by denying them the right to vote.

Virginia enacted several new voting laws in 2020 and 2021 to make voting more accessible during the pandemic. Early in-person voting hours were increased, mail-in absentee ballots no longer required a witness signature, more drop-box locations were available. These changes led to record voter turnout (with insignificant fraud) in both the 2020 presidential election and the 2021 gubernatorial election. Therefore I oppose any new bill that would restrict our rights to accessible voting.

Voting is a constitutional right. Any law that restricts rather than expands our constitutional right & DUTY to vote is simply voter suppression. We must not repeal any expansions of absentee ballots. Do not decrease early voting. - extend the number of days allowed. Do not eliminate any ballot box locations- expand. We have no need to re-register absentee ballots every year. No excuse absentee voting is absolutely crucial. The state must provide easy and free access to voter ID if a photo is required. Since the USPS has slowed considerably, we must keep the 3 day rule for receiving ballots after election day. All local elections must be on Election Day (in Nov). Election Day should be a holiday. Until we do a complete overhaul of campaign finance & eliminate dark money/special interests there must be no restrictions on outreach, education & registration or from where a candidate may collect funds. Voter registration up to and including Election Day is absolutely crucial to ensure all citizens vote. I support all bills expanding our rights and abilities to make voting as easy as possible. I oppose all bills attempting to restrict any access to our ballot and our vote. The process is too important for the elected officials to be able to restrict us from our duty to be informed voters. Keep expanding our rights. Do not restrict, suppress or subvert them.

I am in favor of these bills to ensure honest and accurate election counts in the state of Virginia. This would include bills HB 1090, 1101, 1109, 121, 196,24,941,942,945,956 and HJ 65.

As an Election Officer in Loudoun County, I support House Bill 956 for the reasons listed below. Thank you for passing it out of Committee and I ask you to vocally support HB956 on the House Floor. In 2020 a change was made to the law that allowed Absentee Ballots to be received and counted up until noon on the Friday following the Election, as long as the Absentee Ballot was postmarked Election Day. HB 956 will return the law to what it was prior to 2020 and require that Absentee ballots be received by close of the polls at 7:00 pm on Election Night to be counted. 1. The Registrars, their Staff and Election Officers are exhausted after Election Day and from all the work done before Election Day. Carrying the Election process longer to accepting and counting Absentee Ballots, for almost 3 days more after the close of the Election, only adds to their exhaustion and very probably mistakes. 2. As an Election Officer and observer of this process, I have seen absentee ballots arrive after the Election with postmarks missing, postmarks smeared and unable to be read or deciphered and these ballots were just accepted, even though it was several days after the Election. Humans are put in a position to make these decisions one by one, but I don’t think accepting these ballots was fair or right. 3. The 2020 law of accepting Absentee ballots after the Election also, opens the United States Postal Service and other Mail Agencies like Fed X and UPS , which are more removed entities and less secure than the Election Office, to be preyed upon and interfered with, by those who want to corrupt the Election, pay bribes and commit fraud. Strict Security measures and standards and Inspections and Bipartisan observation should be established for these mail entities, if Absentee Ballots continue to be accepted for days after the Election is over. 4. Last and most importantly, this 2020 Law of accepting Absentee Ballots until noon on the Friday after the Election, causes VA Voters and their ballots to be handled Inconsistently. The current 2020 law is a discriminatory law, which favors and gives preferential treatment to Voters who vote by Absentee Ballot, even if they vote too late for their ballot to be received before the election is over. In comparison, Voters who vote on Election Day, are not permitted to vote after 7:00 pm. No matter if they were stuck at work or stuck in traffic, if they arrive at 7:01 or 7:05, or 7:15 on Election Day, they are turned away and they can Not vote. The polls are closed! This is how elections are run! Accepting absentee ballots almost 3 days after the Election should Not be allowed. The Election is over and the polls are closed at 7:00 pm on Election night for All ballots. The law should be consistent and the same for all VA Voters whether voting in person on Election Day or Voting by Absentee ballot. The current law gives preferential treatment to Absentee Ballots almost 3 days after the close of Election and may actually be a violation of the Federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. ( A question came up in committee about Military ballots having time to be received. My understating is that most Military ballots are handled by email, so there should not be a mail delay.) I am in favor of HB 956 and returning to a law that is consistent for all the Virginia Voters. The Election should end at 7:00 pm on Election Night for Everyone!

Thank you for the opportunity to comment. The most important aspect of any election is that the people have had a fair chance to vote and have confidence in the outcome. Allowing votes to arrive 3-days after the election is over and still be counted does not inspire public confidence in the outcome of the election. Good people will say doing that just enables bad people to determine how many votes are needed to flip the results. Requiring a post mark on or before the day of the election is not effective. Because absentee ballots come with pre-paid envelopes that don’t get stamped at the post office. Many people don’t realize that there is also a tremendous cost placed on our county election offices as they must now get election officers, volunteers, and staff to come in for three days after the election to handle late arriving ballots. People who request an absentee ballot should be responsible to either mail it in time to arrive by election day, or drop it off themselves at the election office. Allowing ballots to arrive 3-days after an election is over and still be counted was a process put in-place because of the pandemic. The pandemic is over. It’s time to get back to where we were which is getting your vote in on or before election day. I urge you to vote yes on HB 956.

Please move to report HB54, 149, 175,310, 398, 441, 945, 956.

HB 1090 I am strongly opposed to reinstating the requirement to provide a photo ID in order to cast a ballot in Virginia. During the last election and I was handing out information, a distraught elderly woman and told me she was refused her right to vote because she had no photo ID. I was able to tell her that a photo ID was no longer necessary if she had some official document with her name and address on it. Fortunately, she had a utility bill with that information. She returned to the polling station, showed it to the worker and was able to vote. As she left the building, she told me that she was too old to drive and had no ID with a photo on it, so she was thrilled to learn that her right to vote had not been taken from her. Please don't deprive elderly citizens from exercising their constitutional right to participate in our democracy.

Voting should be simple, quick, and accesible to everyone. We have a lot of elderly and/or disabled residents, people who don't have access to a car, or members of the military serving overseas. Our legislators in Richmond should be working to make every Virginia's voice is heard. In addition, returning citizens should be eligible to vote once their sentence is completed. If they've served their time in prison as determined by a judge and/or jury, no purpose is served by denying them the right to vote.

Virginia enacted several new voting laws in 2020 and 2021 to make voting more accessible during the pandemic. Early in-person voting hours were increased, mail-in absentee ballots no longer required a witness signature, more drop-box locations were available. These changes led to record voter turnout (with insignificant fraud) in both the 2020 presidential election and the 2021 gubernatorial election. Therefore I oppose any new bill that would restrict our rights to accessible voting.

Voting is a constitutional right. Any law that restricts rather than expands our constitutional right & DUTY to vote is simply voter suppression. We must not repeal any expansions of absentee ballots. Do not decrease early voting. - extend the number of days allowed. Do not eliminate any ballot box locations- expand. We have no need to re-register absentee ballots every year. No excuse absentee voting is absolutely crucial. The state must provide easy and free access to voter ID if a photo is required. Since the USPS has slowed considerably, we must keep the 3 day rule for receiving ballots after election day. All local elections must be on Election Day (in Nov). Election Day should be a holiday. Until we do a complete overhaul of campaign finance & eliminate dark money/special interests there must be no restrictions on outreach, education & registration or from where a candidate may collect funds. Voter registration up to and including Election Day is absolutely crucial to ensure all citizens vote. I support all bills expanding our rights and abilities to make voting as easy as possible. I oppose all bills attempting to restrict any access to our ballot and our vote. The process is too important for the elected officials to be able to restrict us from our duty to be informed voters. Keep expanding our rights. Do not restrict, suppress or subvert them.

Providing a photo identification is a common expectation to participate is the most mundane aspects of societal life, such as to buy alcohol, cigarettes, board an airplane, go to the doctor, register children into schools, get a library card, work for any employer, and of course to drive a car. Voting is a privilege granted to citizens and residents of VA. Requiring a photo ID is not burdensome and should be expected. I've worked as an election official. At no time during early voting or on election day did any voters complain about showing their ID. Polling shows that the vast majority of Americans want photo identification requirements in order to receive a ballot. Support HB121!

Providing a photo identification is a common expectation to participate is the most mundane aspects of societal life, such as to buy alcohol, cigarettes, board an airplane, go to the doctor, register children into schools, get a library card, work for any employer, and of course to drive a car. Voting is a privilege granted to citizens and residents of VA. Requiring a photo ID is not burdensome and should be expected. I've worked as an election official. At no time during early voting or on election day did any voters complain about showing their ID. Polling shows that the vast majority of Americans want photo identification requirements in order to receive a ballot. Support HB1090!

I am in favor of these bills to ensure honest and accurate election counts in the state of Virginia. This would include bills HB 1090, 1101, 1109, 121, 196,24,941,942,945,956 and HJ 65.

All Virginia voters should be guaranteed fair and equal opportunity to vote and access to polling sites. I urge the committee to vote in favor of the Right to Vote Amendment and the associated referendum bills: HJ9 and HB130. Passing the amendment places the responsibility for this important decision where it should be – with Virginia's voters during the 2022 elections. Let Virginia voters decide.

I work as a check in officer in my local precinct. Of the people that walk in and vote on election day, virtually all voters expect to present a picture ID. The vast majority present a drivers license. Case and point: Voters expect to present a picture ID to vote and do not complain. The NO ID requirement seems to be a legislative requirement! Stick to Election Integrity and require picture ID. JWV

The VA NAACP doesn't support legislation that limits access to voters. Hb1090 Hb149 hb121 hb 249 hb 178 hb24 Support Hj9 hj130

HB1090 should be passed. Voters should have a photo ID and be able to show proof of residence. This enforces the integrity of voting in VA. Seniors can have a photo identification, even if they do not drive. There should not be a permanent absentee voter list. People move, pass away, etc and this can lead to fraud when others use this list to mail out ballots. I saw this happen, when ballots for deceased parents were sent to our home. Voters should register during the open period and should not be allowed to register on Election Day. Absentee ballots can be obtained legally if you know you will not be able to vote on Election Day. All ballots should be received by the close of Election Day, not days later.

Voter ID required, limit mail in ballots, no drop boxes, cutoff for registration to vote 2 -3 weeks prior, citizens only, clean voter registration polls weekly, modify length of residency to qualify to register

Comments Document

Dear Privileges and Elections Committee Members, I urge the committee to vote in favor of the Right to Vote Amendment and the associated referendum bills: HJ9 and HB130. Passing the amendment places the responsibility for this important decision where it should be – with Virginia's voters during the 2022 elections. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Beth Alley

BOTH HJ9 and HB130. Privileges and Elections Committee Members, I urge the committee to vote in favor of the Right to Vote Amendment and the associated referendum bills: HJ9 and HB130. Passing the amendment places the responsibility for this important decision where it should be – with Virginia's voters during the 2022 elections. Thank you for your consideration. "I say to people today, 'You must be prepared if you believe in something. If you believe in something, you have to go for it. As individuals, we may not live to see the end." -- John Lewis "We have come a long way in America because of Martin Luther King, Jr. He led a disciplined, nonviolent revolution under the rule of law, a revolution of values, a revolution of ideas. We've come a long way, but we still have a distance to go before all of our citizens embrace the idea of a truly interracial democracy, what I like to call the Beloved Community, a nation at peace with itself." -- John Lewis Sincerely, Marilyn Karp BOTH HJ9 and HB130.

Please move to report HB34, 35, 36, 39, 178, 528, 1090, 1141 to protect minority votes which can be diluted by fraudulent votes and places blame unfairly on minorities for questionable voting practices. Against HB177, 196 because those can affect handicapped/disabled. If they are left for them, then no problems.

I support HB's: 34, 35, 36, 39, 177, 178, 196, 198, 528, 1141, because we need to have a system where all Virginia voters can have confidence in the integrity of our elections. Without these reforms, loop holes are left open that can allow third party organizations, or campaigns, to manipulate ballets, steal ballets from voters, or manufacture fraudulent voters. We need election reform now! Thank you.

Voter ID card from the Board of Elections is Sufficient.

Voter ID card from the Board of Elections is Sufficient.

Hello, I am Sami Watson, Field Coordinator with Hamkae Center. We work with Asian American voters across the state and we oppose House Bill 1090. Many Americans do not have a valid photo ID, and research has shown that restrictive identification requirements disproportionately impact elderly, minority, and low-income voters. Despite being the fastest growing ethnic voting bloc in the state and the country, AAPI voters may be deterred from casting a ballot due to the cost and time needed to acquire a valid photo ID in order to vote. Acceptable ID should include other forms of non-photo identification and voters should be able to cast a regular ballot by signing an ID confirmation statement, subject to felony penalty. Thank you.

I am commenting on HB 1090, Voter identification; identification containing a photograph. Before 2014, several forms of identification were acceptable for voting, as long as they had name and address information that coincided with the information in the poll book. Now we are back to that method of identification, which has been tested in the last two elections and found to be sufficiently secure. The photo ID requirement was difficult for some people to meet: elderly persons, especially those who moved into senior housing or no longer drove. The DMV does issue IDs for walkers, but a person has to get to the DMV. There was a provision in the act that passed in 2014 that required Office of Elections in all jurisdictions to provide equipment for taking photographs and creating ID free cards that could be used just for voting. In Fairfax, the officers of elections used to go to libraries and senior residences with this equipment to make sure that people had access to this equipment. I do not see such a provision in this bill. Since there was no problem with identifying voters correctly using any of the acceptable forms of ID, there is no need to return to the requirement to present a photo. Yours sincerely, Sidney Johnson

Election Integrity guarantees our voice is heard and the we can trust the system. It is foundational to the backbone of this country. It has been my astonishing revelation that this most SACRED of all abilities - believed to be held UP- in such esteem and REVERENCE yet in reality is trampled upon, disrespected and disgraced , given away with no value whatsoever in order to game the system. It is totally and completely unprotected. IT is UNTRUE. This reminds me of the snake oil salesmen who came into towns in the early days selling fakery and un-truths. As the American people come learn the truth - it IS happening now folks, make no mistake, they will ask the leadership to answer for this'd hold you accountable for this bait and switch. WE need real election integrity for LEGAL CITIZENS ONLY. WE NEED PRISTINELY CLEAN VOTER ROLLS. Here is the list of what we must do to repair and restore the trust of the American People. Establish laws enabling forensic audits and voter canvass Repeal same day voter registration Repeal no voter identification Repeal the permanent absentee ballot list Repeal no-excuse AB Repeal 3rd party mailing of AB Repeal ballot harvesting Eliminate AB drop boxes. We also want 1 day of voting, but anything less than 45 days would be better than nothing. Do not accept AB after Election DAY. Repeal pre-registration of 16 year olds Repeal automatic voter registration by DMV Please vote appropriately on ALL bills in support of these goals. Angela Boyer Great Falls Va 22066

Since there has never been any significant fraud in Virginia elections, we should keep and expand measures that make it easier for all of our citizens to participate the the most sacred of our democratic rights. There is no reason to make access to the ballot box tougher. We need to keep early voting, mail-in ballots, drop boxes, and enough polling places so there are not unreasonable wait times. The more citizens included in this process the stronger their involvement and commitment to their community, state, and nation.

I oppose all bills attempting to restrict any access to our ballot and our vote. Keep expanding our rights. Make voting as easy as possible for all people, including elderly, disabled, people working multiple jobs, caretakers, people without access to transportation, and people who have served time. Do not restrict, suppress or subvert voting rights.

SOLUTION IN SEARCH OF A PROBLEM - Please Reject Confidence that our elections are fair is important. This is the paradox, though: raising alarms about election security, EVEN WHEN THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF CHEATING, is what undermines that confidence. Until you've made the case that there are people voting who shouldn't, or that there is cheating or foul play going on, there is no reason to make it harder to vote, which is what this bill does. We ALL benefit from widespread participation in elections. Making it less convenient and more expensive for people to vote is wrong. Please reject this bill. Thank you.

The VA State Conference doesn't support any voter suppression bills that cause barriers to vote. HB 24 46 185 187 544 780 944 941 942 1090

As a Virginia resident, I am opposed to all of the proposed bills for this session. I am concerned that the restrictions may further challenge low-income Virginians’ ability to participate in elections. Thank you for your consideration.

HB 1090 I am strongly opposed to reinstating the requirement to provide a photo ID in order to cast a ballot in Virginia. During the last election and I was handing out information, a distraught elderly woman and told me she was refused her right to vote because she had no photo ID. I was able to tell her that a photo ID was no longer necessary if she had some official document with her name and address on it. Fortunately, she had a utility bill with that information. She returned to the polling station, showed it to the worker and was able to vote. As she left the building, she told me that she was too old to drive and had no ID with a photo on it, so she was thrilled to learn that her right to vote had not been taken from her. Please don't deprive elderly citizens from exercising their constitutional right to participate in our democracy.

Voting is a right guaranteed to all citizens. Unless ID's to be used for voting are provided easily and free to all eligible voters, voter ID requirements amount to voter suppression. There is no discernible voter fraud in any Virginia elections that would be addressed by these voter ID laws.

HB1090, HB942, HB544, HB46, HB24, and HB121 Voting should be easy and cheating should be hard. requiring a Photo Voter ID is necessary to ensure only the eligible registered voters vote in our elections. Virginia Voter Photo Identification cards are available, free-of-charge, from any General Registrar’s office in Virginia. heres the link: https://www.elections.virginia.gov/media/archive/voter-photo-id/ELECT-404-ID-VoPhoIDCardApp-Long.pdf Mail in ballots are the most vunerable for fraud. Absentee ballots should only be sent to those requesting them, ID and signature required and the deadline for receipt of an absentee ballot by the date of the election. /drop boxes should only be inside registras office, polling locations and government offices under surveillance to prevent tampering. There should be no same day registration of voting this puts a burden on the registras office and allows those who want to cheat to relocated or who have moved to vote in more than one locality or state. The Voter rolls need to be up to date and accurate when early voting starts.

Virginia enacted several new voting laws in 2020 and 2021 to make voting more accessible during the pandemic. Early in-person voting hours were increased, mail-in absentee ballots no longer required a witness signature, more drop-box locations were available. These changes led to record voter turnout (with insignificant fraud) in both the 2020 presidential election and the 2021 gubernatorial election. Therefore I oppose any new bill that would restrict our rights to accessible voting.

Do not conflate privileges with rights. It is a privilege to drive, not a right. It also costs a lot of money to become a legal licensed driver. It should not cost any money to exercise a right. There are many citizens in our country who do not need a photo ID because their lives do not center around travel or activities that require an age verification like drinking alcohol. That said, I am not anti-photo ID. Satisfy the following conditions and you can have photo ID: All citizens receive a free citizenship photo ID upon turning 18 or being naturalized. These IDs are available for replacement in every local area that has a Walmart and Dollar General meaning it's as easy to get to as your corner store. This is how vaccination cards work. Getting a Covid-19 vaccination is easy and free and widely available. Make photo identification the same. We will support photo IDs for exercising our right to vote when they are free to citizens and widely available. Until then, voter identification fraud is so infinitesimal that it is statistically insignificant compared to the statistically significant percentage of people that will be disenfranchised for not having a photo ID.

Do not conflate privileges with rights. It is a privilege to drive, not a right. It also costs a lot of money to become a legal licensed driver. It should not cost any money to exercise a right. There are many citizens in our country who do not need a photo ID because their lives do not center around travel or activities that require an age verification like drinking alcohol. That said, I am not anti-photo ID. Satisfy the following conditions and you can have photo ID: All citizens receive a free citizenship photo ID upon turning 18 or being naturalized. These IDs are available for replacement in every local area that has a Walmart and Dollar General meaning it's as easy to get to as your corner store. We will support photo IDs for exercising our right to vote when they are free and widely available. Until then, voter identification fraud is so infinitesimal that it is statistically insignificant compared to the statistically significant percentage of people that will be disenfranchised for not having a photo ID.

Regarding HB1090, HB942, HB544, HB46, HB24, and HB121 = these voter id bills are actually unnecessary. There is no evidence that people are committing voter fraud on any meaningful scale, even in local elections. Voter ID laws can potentially deprive potential voters of their right to vote and/or reduce participation in local elections. As a conservative, I believe these kinds of laws are actually antithetical to what our country needs to be doing to increase civic participation. People like me have been forced to fill out provisional ballots in prior elections because it takes a while to get a govt photo ID and I know the cost can be prohibitive to people who don't think it's important. We should be making voting as reasonably easy and as low-cost as possible, and we should stop changing laws relating to voter ID and such so much because it can be confusing if this happens every other year. Thank you.

HB1090: Voter identifications bills are redundant and are a really lazy solution to a nonexistent problem. It's such an embarrassing waste of time to even be discussing this when the majority of eligible people don't even vote. Stop wasting time nitpicking on this and instead focus on an important issue like rising sea levels or outrageous housing prices.

Voting is a constitutional right. Any law that restricts rather than expands our constitutional right & DUTY to vote is simply voter suppression. We must not repeal any expansions of absentee ballots. Do not decrease early voting. - extend the number of days allowed. Do not eliminate any ballot box locations- expand. We have no need to re-register absentee ballots every year. No excuse absentee voting is absolutely crucial. The state must provide easy and free access to voter ID if a photo is required. Since the USPS has slowed considerably, we must keep the 3 day rule for receiving ballots after election day. All local elections must be on Election Day (in Nov). Election Day should be a holiday. Until we do a complete overhaul of campaign finance & eliminate dark money/special interests there must be no restrictions on outreach, education & registration or from where a candidate may collect funds. Voter registration up to and including Election Day is absolutely crucial to ensure all citizens vote. I support all bills expanding our rights and abilities to make voting as easy as possible. I oppose all bills attempting to restrict any access to our ballot and our vote. The process is too important for the elected officials to be able to restrict us from our duty to be informed voters. Keep expanding our rights. Do not restrict, suppress or subvert them.

Voter identifications bills are redundant and are a really lazy solution to a nonexistent problem. It's such an embarrassing waste of time to even be discussing this when the majority of eligible people don't even vote. Stop wasting time nitpicking on this and instead focus on an important issue like rising sea levels or outrageous housing prices.

I absolutely despise these bills. Our elections aren’t fraudulent and have no fraud that would change the outcome of a single election, so what’s the point of these bills? Why do you want to make voting harder? What’s the purpose of these extra hoops to jump through? These bills should be shot down quickly.

I strongly oppose HB1090. Unless approved photo identification is provided free to all eligible voters, the requirement constitutes a poll tax. If you were to create a situation whereby there is automatic voter registration for all eligible voters, and issuance of a free, approved identification card, then this requirement would be acceptable. Until that happens, this would simply place a burden on the poor and the elderly (who may no longer need a license to drive). That is not acceptable.

Voting should be easy and available That means that voters should have every option available to them, including No-excuse absentee voting, mail in voting, in person early voting and in person election day voting at enough locations to prevent long lines. The photo ID requirement is based on a false narrative around a kind of fraud that does not happen so a photo ID should not be required. Mobile device voting should be available. I can bank and pay my taxes from my computer or phone, I should be able to vote that way as well

I support all bills that require voter ID. There is no reason for not being able to obtain a photo ID. I also agree voters should have the right to designate in the voter records that a photo ID is required to cast a vote under said name

Requiring photo ID to vote, when the same requirement exists to receive other government benefits, receive a vaccination, etc., is a a common-sense requirement. Unfortunately, common sense seemed to have left the building over the last two years; perhaps it has returned.

I oppose HB1090, HB121, HB24, HB46, and HB942, all requiring a photo ID to vote. This is completely unnecessary and serves only to make it more difficult to cast a ballot in the commonwealth. HB1090 in particular is absolutely disgraceful. It would strike current provisions of the law allowing voters with certain disabilities who require assistance in voting to be provided that assistance.