Commissioner briefs committee on 2024 elections, Verus upgrade, same‑day registration and USPS issues

Commissioner of Elections Susan Beals told the committee that the Commonwealth conducted five elections in 2024 and had about 4.5 million ballots cast, with roughly 48% of voters choosing to vote on election day and 52% voting early in person or by mail.

Beals said the breakdown included about 2.1 million on‑the‑day ballots, roughly 1.8 million early in person and about 400,000 by mail. She said voters used 95,000 drop‑off locations and about 200 ballots were delivered by a designated representative.

Beals reviewed several operational issues that affected the 2024 cycle. Provisional ballots were about 3% of ballots cast—roughly 123,000—largely because of same‑day registration. She said registrars processed about 89,000 same‑day registrations on election day and 25,000 during the early‑voting period, and that many of the same‑day filings were concentrated in college towns where small registrar offices faced heavy volume.

On technology, Beals updated members on the Verus voter‑registration system replacement. She said the contract was awarded in April 2022, planning began in January 2023, and the project has completed 22 development sprints under an…