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1996 SESSION

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963440144
HOUSE BILL NO. 463 Offered January 18, 1996 A BILL to amend and reenact § 24.2-707 of the Code of Virginia, relating to absentee voting procedures. ---------- Patron-- Callahan ---------- Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections ----------

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 24.2-707 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 24.2-707. How ballots marked and returned by mail; cast in person; cast on voting equipment.

On receipt of a mailed absentee ballot, the voter shall, in the presence of a witness, (i) open the sealed envelope marked "ballot within" and (ii) mark and refold the ballot, as provided in §§ 24.2-644 and 24.2-646 without assistance and without making known how he marked the ballot, except as provided by § 24.2-704.

After the voter has marked his absentee ballot, he shall (i) enclose the ballot in the envelope provided for that purpose, (ii) seal the envelope, (iii) fill in and sign the statement printed on the back of the envelope in the presence of a witness, who shall sign the same envelope, (iv) enclose the ballot envelope and any required assistance form within the envelope directed to the electoral board, and (v) seal that envelope and mail it to the office of the electoral board or deliver it personally to the electoral board or the general registrar.

An applicant who makes his application to vote in person at a time when the printed ballots for the election are available shall follow the same procedure set forth above except that he shall complete the procedure in person in the office of the general registrar or secretary of the electoral board, or at another location or locations approved by the electoral board, before a registrar, or the secretary, or an officer or officers of election appointed by the electoral board.

Failure to follow the procedures set forth above shall render the applicant's ballot void.

The electoral board of any county or city using a central absentee voting precinct may provide for the casting of absentee ballots on voting equipment prior to election day by applicants who are voting in person. The State Board shall prescribe procedures for the use of voting equipment. The procedures shall provide for the casting of absentee ballots prior to election day by in-person applicants on voting equipment which has been certified, and is currently approved, by the State Board. The procedures shall be applicable and uniformly applied by the State Board to all jurisdictions using comparable voting equipment.