GOVERNOR'S VETO

Pursuant to Article V, Section 6, of the Constitution of Virginia, I veto Senate Bill 1038. Senate Bill 1038 would require the automatic denial of voter registration applications from certain eligible Virginians solely due to an error in a federal database or other databases.

This legislation would violate Article II, Section 1 of the Virginia Constitution by injecting additional requirements Virginians have to satisfy in order to be eligible to vote in the Commonwealth. The federal Voting Rights Act expressly prohibits denying applications for reasons that are not material to determining voter eligibility. Requiring 133 individual general registrars to implement a flawed application denial process will only increase the likelihood of disenfranchisement of eligible voters. The constitutional right to vote should not be undermined by human error such as data entry mistakes or typos.

The right to vote is fundamental to the strength of our democracy, and at every opportunity, Virginia must strongly depart from its history of mounting obstacles to the voting booth. Additionally, the implementation of this legislation would stretch the limited resources of local and state elections officials.

Requiring general registrars to deny applications from potentially eligible Virginians would disenfranchise Virginians, violate Virginia’s Constitution and federal law, and be an unfunded mandate on our cities and counties.

Accordingly, I veto this bill.