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2018 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections

Chairman: Jill Holtzman Vogel

Clerk: Hobie Lehman
Staff: Meg Lamb
Date of Meeting: February 27, 2018
Time and Place: 15 Minutes After Senate Adjourns / Senate Room 3, the Capitol
Updated to add SJR 191

H.B. 427

Patron: Marshall

Filling vacancies in the United States Senate. Removes the language limiting the date at which a special election can be held to fill a vacancy occurring in the representation of the Commonwealth in the United States Senate. Currently, when such a vacancy occurs, the date for the special election to fill the vacancy is either the next November general election or the second next November general election. Current law also gives the Governor the authority to make a temporary appointment to fill such a vacancy; the bill removes that authority. The bill allows the Governor to immediately issue a writ to call an election upon receipt of written notification by a Senator or Senator-elect of his resignation, rather than wait for the vacancy to actually occur, and makes the Senator's or Senator-elect's resignation irrevocable after the date stated by him for his resignation or after the forty-fifth day before the date set for the special election.

H.B. 1210

Patron: Hugo

Post-election audits. Defines "post-election audit" to mean a process conducted after an election to confirm the accurate reporting of the results of the election and directs the State Board of Elections to establish a work group tasked with developing standards and procedures for conducting post-election audits in the Commonwealth. The work group is required, at a minimum, to (i) consider the types of post-election audits available and being implemented in other states, (ii) recommend the type of post-election audit to be used in the Commonwealth, (iii) establish the process and procedures for conducting the recommended post-election audit, including the timeline, (iv) recommend actions to be taken if the post-election audit results indicate that the voting systems did not accurately count the ballots cast in the election, and (v) propose legislation for implementing the work group's recommendations. The work group is directed to submit an interim progress report by January 7, 2019, and a final report by December 1, 2019, to the Governor and the General Assembly. The bill repeals the current law regarding post-election risk-limiting audits.

S.J.R. 191

Patron: Vogel

Confirming Governor's appointments; February 23. Confirms appointments of certain persons made by Governor Ralph Northam and communicated to the General Assembly February 23, 2018.