Virginia governor moves to secure elections, rejoin ERIC

Gov. Abigail Spanberger issued an executive order focused on securing Virginia voter’s ballots on March 24.

The order makes a few changes, such as getting the state to rejoin a multi-state voter database, requiring any systematic removal of voters from the rolls be completed 90 days before an election, and requiring the state’s top elections official to certify that election security measures now in place are still in place each year.

“I know it feels like it is always election season in Virginia,” said Spanberger in a press release on the executive order. “With even more days of voting on our calendar this year, I’m acting early to strengthen Virginia‘s transparent, robust voting process and protect the rights of all eligible Virginia voters. The actions Virginia is taking today are not only critical to allowing all eligible Virginia voters to register and cast their ballot, but to making sure that only Virginians who are eligible to vote are able to vote in our Commonwealth – this year, and in every election into the future.”

The executive order begins the process for Virginia to rejoin the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) system, a 26-state, nonpartisan nonprofit organization that allows states to share voter registration data. The data allows the state to, according to the executive order, “identify voters who have moved out of Virginia, who have updated their contact information, who have duplicate registrations in Virginia” due to moving within the state and those “who have passed away.”

Virginia was a founding member of the system in 2012 under Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell but left in May 2023 in the wake of President Donald Trump’s denial of the results of the 2020 election. The Virginia Department of Election’s 2022 voter list maintenance praised the system for the consistency of data across states.

“The data quality from the ERIC program is significantly better than other interstate exchange programs and any program that ELECT could operate in-house with existing resources,” the report read.

Outside of ERIC, any program “for which the purpose is to systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from the voter registration system based on evidence  of ineligibility – including evidence of lack of eligible residence or evidence of non-citizenship” must complete its work “not later” than 90 days before a federal primary or general election.

The Virginia Commissioner of the Department of Elections, Steven Koski and his successors, will also need to annually certify “that election security procedures are in place as it relates to ballot security, the testing and certification of vote counting machines ahead of each election in which the machines are used, and multi-level accuracy checks of results conducted by election officials.” The order also highlights the ways the state is already securing votes during each election:

• 100% paper ballots which provide a physical record of the voter’s intent.
• Use of paper ballot counting machines.
• Strict chain of custody for ballots with daily reconciliation during early voting.
• Applications to receive a mail ballot.
• Counting machines tested prior to every election.
• Counting machines not connected to the internet.
• Ballot drop boxes are subject to 24/7 monitoring.

The order also provides a list of criminal offenses related to elections that are already in state code. This includes intimidation of election officials, intimidation of voters, interference with voting, bribery to get voters to cast their ballots a certain way, false states, and tampering or stealing ballot containers or other elections data or equipment.

Reporting by Lyra Bordelon, Staunton News Leader