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2016 SESSION
16104000DBe it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 24.2-643 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 24.2-643. Qualified voter permitted to vote; procedures at polling place; voter identification.
A. After the polls are open, each qualified voter at a precinct shall be permitted to vote. The officers of election shall ascertain that a person offering to vote is a qualified voter before admitting him to the voting booth and furnishing an official ballot to him.
B. (Effective January 2, 2016) An officer of election shall
ask the voter for his full name and current residence address and the voter
may give such information orally or in writing. The office of election shall
repeat, in a voice audible to party and candidate representatives present, the
full name and address stated provided by the voter. The officer
shall ask the voter to present any one of the following forms of
identification: his valid Virginia driver's license, his valid United States
passport, or any other photo identification issued by the Commonwealth, one of
its political subdivisions, or the United States; any valid student
identification card containing a photograph of the voter and issued by any
institution of higher education located in the Commonwealth or any private
school located in the Commonwealth; or any valid employee identification card
containing a photograph of the voter and issued by an employer of the voter in
the ordinary course of the employer's business. [ The provision allowing
a voter to give his full name and current residence address in writing shall
not be construed to require the form of identification presented by the voter
to contain the voter's current residence address. ]
Any voter who does not show one of the forms of identification specified in this subsection shall be offered a provisional ballot under the provisions of § 24.2-653. The State Board of Elections shall provide an ID-ONLY provisional ballot envelope that requires no follow-up action by the registrar or electoral board other than matching submitted identification documents from the voter for the electoral board to make a determination on whether to count the ballot.
If the voter presents one of the forms of identification
listed above, if his name is found on the pollbook in a form identical to or
substantially similar to the name on the presented form of identification and
the name stated provided by the voter, if he is qualified to vote
in the election, and if no objection is made, an officer shall enter, opposite
the voter's name on the pollbook, the first or next consecutive number from the
voter count form provided by the State Board, or shall enter that the voter has
voted if the pollbook is in electronic form; an officer shall provide the voter
with the official ballot; and another officer shall admit him to the voting
booth. Each voter whose name has been marked on the pollbooks as present to
vote and entitled to a ballot shall remain in the presence of the officers of
election in the polling place until he has voted. If a line of voters who have
been marked on the pollbooks as present to vote forms to await entry to the
voting booths, the line shall not be permitted to extend outside of the room
containing the voting booths and shall remain under observation by the officers
of election.
A voter may be accompanied into the voting booth by his child age 15 or younger.
C. If the current residence address stated provided
by the voter is different from the address shown on the pollbook, the officer
of election shall furnish the voter with a change of address form prescribed by
the State Board. Upon its completion, the voter shall sign the prescribed form,
subject to felony penalties for making false statements pursuant to §
24.2-1016, which the officer of election shall then place in an envelope
provided for such forms for transmission to the general registrar who shall
then transfer or cancel the registration of such voter pursuant to Chapter 4 (§
24.2-400 et seq.).
D. At the time the voter is asked his full name and current residence address, the officer of election shall ask any voter for whom the pollbook indicates that an identification number other than a social security number is recorded on the Virginia voter registration system if he presently has a social security number. If the voter is able to provide his social security number, he shall be furnished with a voter registration form prescribed by the State Board to update his registration information. Upon its completion, the form shall be placed by the officer of election in an envelope provided for such forms for transmission to the general registrar. Any social security numbers so provided shall be entered by the general registrar in the voter's record on the voter registration system.