Harrisonburg electoral board hears state legislative update, approves officers; 1,266 voters removed under federal rule

HARRISONBURG, Va. — The Harrisonburg City Electoral Board on Feb. 3 received a legislative and operations update from General Registrar Lehi and then approved two new officers of election and the board’s 2025 officers list.

Lehi, Harrisonburg’s general registrar, summarized several bills moving through the Virginia General Assembly that could change local election procedures if enacted and outlined administrative work at the registrar’s office, including trials of label printers for same-day registration (SDR), a document-retention shredding action, and preparation of the locality’s Locality Election Security Standards (LESS).

The bills Lehi highlighted include HB 1735, which would shorten the “close of books” period from 21 days before an election to 10 days (shifting the start of same-day registration processing); HB 1794, which would move June primaries to March in presidential election years and shift related deadlines; HB 1938, which would expand the prohibited area around polling places (discussed as changing a 40-foot buffer to 100 feet, with concerns about curbside voting locations); HB 2056, which would transfer authority over opening absentee satellite offices from electoral boards to the local governing body; HB 2668, which would change the process for removing general registrars (GRs) and electoral board members so that the State Board of Elections (SBE), rather than the courts, would have final removal authority; and HJ 443, a JLARC study proposal to examine consolidating Virginia…