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 elections into federal election years.

Lehi stressed uncertainty about whether the bills would become law, noting several “haven’t been engrossed yet” and “definitely haven’t been signed by the governor.” She described HB 1735 as likely to reduce staff workload for routine registrations but to increase provisional processing because same-day registration (SDR) would begin closer to Election Day: “It requires us to process it later. It requires you all to vote on it. It requires us to do all this work where if they’re just able to register in time, they just show up.”

On HB 1938’s proposed larger buffer zone, Lehi said local circumstances — including curbside voting needs and building entrances — make a uniform 100-foot zone potentially impractical in some places. She said the bill’s sponsors are aiming for consistency with neighboring states but that a compromise addressing curbside voting specifically may be more likely.

Operational updates and administrative actions

Lehi told the board she has submitted the registrar’s budget to the city manager and will meet with that office in mid-February. She described an experiment to reduce handwritten entries for SDR: the office plans to buy inexpensive label printers (about $50 each) and test printed labels for logs and, if allowed by code, envelopes, to reduce duplicate data entry and improve uniformity. The office is consulting state staff and other Virginia localities (including “Lehi,” Connie Beyer, Montgomery County and Virginia Tech contacts) about what the code permits and how best to pilot the technology.

Lehi reported document retention activity: 150 documents were securely shredded on Jan. 27 after the office filed the required RM-3 form with the Library of Virginia. The shredded materials included older scanned voter registrations, unused paper poll books and other election records that had met retention criteria.

On election security and post-election tasks, Lehi said the office is continuing to reconcile provisional-credit items from the November 2024 election and will review the 2025 LESS with Bud Richey later in February; the LESS review is scheduled for the board’s next meeting. She also reviewed key calendar dates: the State Board will notify localities on March 5 about requested primaries; April 3 is the deadline for primary candidates to submit ballot paperwork; early voting for the June primary starts May 1 and Election Day for the June primary is June 17. Early voting for the November general election would begin Sept. 19 and Election Day is Nov. 4.

NVRA cancellations

Lehi said the office completed the federally required voter-roll maintenance under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and removed 1,266 inactive voters following the post-federal-election process. She explained that these removals result from an annual mailing and inactivity rules; the removals reduced Harrisonburg’s total registered-voter count to 26,495 on the day she reported the change. Lehi emphasized the total is a moving target: the rolls change daily as registrations and cancellations are processed.

Officers of election

The board approved, by voice vote, two applicants presented at the prior meeting as new officers of election and then gave formal approval to the full 2025 officers list on the board’s roster. Lehi noted the current list is unusually long following a presidential election and that not all approved officers may work every scheduled election.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to approve the meeting agenda: approved by voice vote. - Motion to approve the previous meeting’s minutes: approved by voice vote. - Motion to add two new officers of election (applicants presented at the prior meeting): approved by voice vote. - Motion to approve the 2025 list of officers of election: approved by voice vote.

Why it matters

Several of the bills Lehi summarized would change deadlines and processes that affect how Harrisonburg operates its polls, how same-day registration is handled and whether local governing bodies or electoral boards control satellite early-voting locations. The NVRA removals and the LESS review are routine compliance steps that affect roster accuracy and locality election security. The office’s planned pilots with label printers address recurring precinct-level workload and accuracy issues for same-day registration logs.

The board scheduled follow-up work on the LESS and will consider operational details — including any required code guidance for label printing and curbside procedures — as the General Assembly’s action on the bills evolves.