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1996 SESSION

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HJ 162 Constitutional amendment; voter registration.

Introduced by: James M. Scott | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY:

Constitutional amendment (second resolution); voter registration. Authorizes the General Assembly to provide for qualified voters who have moved their residence from one precinct to another within the Commonwealth to continue to vote in their former precincts for the time and under the conditions defined by law. Under the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, states are required to allow certain persons to vote, through two federal elections, who have moved from one precinct to another within the same registrar's jurisdiction and the same congressional district. States may designate either the old or new precinct as the voting location for these individuals. Designating the old precinct allows a voter's name to be printed on only one precinct book. Designating the new precinct requires the name of the voter to be printed on more than one precinct book. However, Virginia's present Constitution does not permit a person to return to his old precinct for the same period permitted by federal law. The proposed constitutional amendment would allow the General Assembly to address this issue by statute and thus avoid the situation in which a voter may be allowed to vote only for federal offices at his old precinct.

The proposed amendment also modifies the listed items of information required to appear on the voter registration application. Pursuant to the National Voter Registration Act, the Federal Election Commission has developed a national mail registration form that does not require all of the information specified by Virginia's current Constitution, e.g., place of birth. Because states must accept the national mail registration form for registering voters for federal elections, there is the possibility that Virginia would have to maintain separate registration lists to accommodate voters who register by the national form.


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