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Subcommittee approves bill to require precinct-level provisional ballot reporting with privacy aggregation option
Summary
Senate Bill 1044, which would require registrars to report provisional ballot results by precinct to the Department of Elections (with a provision allowing aggregation to protect ballot secrecy), was reported as amended after discussion and a proposed amendment directing aggregation to avoid revealing individual votes.
Senate Bill 1044, introduced by Senator Rowland, would require general registrars to report provisional ballot results by precinct to the Department of Elections within up to 10 days after election day. The subcommittee approved the bill with an amendment intended to protect voter secrecy by allowing aggregation of precincts when reporting would risk identifying individual ballots; the final subcommittee tally was reported as 6 yes, 1 no, 1 abstention.
Rowland said the bill’s goal is to provide precinct-level data on provisional ballots so policymakers and redistricting officials have more precise information, noting that provisional ballots have risen with same-day registration. He said reporting mirrors existing reporting for in-person early, absentee, and post-election mail-in ballots and “doesn’t change anything about how someone votes.”
The Nut Graf: Proponents argued the bill increases transparency and provides useful data for redistricting and post-election review; local election officials and counsel raised concerns that publishing very small counts by precinct could allow FOIA requests to reveal how individual people voted unless results are aggregated.
Fairfax County’s Jennifer Vinney testified that FOIA obligations and ballot logs could create a constitutional risk if very small precinct counts were reported in a way that allowed individual votes to be matched; counsel and the bill sponsor worked toward language authorizing the Department of Elections to aggregate precincts or otherwise report at a higher level where necessary to preserve ballot secrecy.
Counsel explained the proposed amendment would direct reporting standards “that the results may only be reported as consistent with the secrecy of the ballot and may include aggregating results to higher levels than the precinct level.” That change, sponsors said, is intended to preserve privacy while giving more granular data where it does not reveal individual votes.
The subcommittee passed the amended measure and agreed to pass it by temporarily and later reported the bill on a roll call read as 6-1-1. Melody Clark noted she was not opposed to the bill in its current form.
The bill will move forward with the adopted language directing the Department of Elections to avoid reporting that would violate ballot secrecy, including aggregation where appropriate.
