Voting-rights groups urge committee to fund election offices and strengthen state protections

Representatives from New Virginia Majority and the ACLU of Virginia told the House Privileges and Elections Committee that state and local election offices need more funding, clearer legal standards and safeguards to protect access to the ballot.

Tram Win, co-executive director of New Virginia Majority, told the committee that local registrars and election workers require additional staffing and financial support and that aging voting equipment must be updated to meet new standards. “We want to make sure that our registrars, our election workers, our department of elections have the tools and resources they need to run these elections,” Win said.

Those needs include changes to rules that limit the receipt of monetary grants by local election offices, Win said, and stronger protections against improper removals from voter rolls. She urged adoption of uniform data-source standards for list maintenance so that jurisdictions do not rely on uncertain third-party databases when removing registrants.

Chris Kaiser, policy director at the ACLU of Virginia, echoed calls for legislative updates tied to a pending constitutional amendment on voting-rights restoration. Kaiser said enabling legislation should ensure that people whose rights are restored are not caught up in record discrepancies and that state agencies transfer data correctly to implement restorations efficiently. “Enabling legislation that we’ve already seen filed looks quite strong,” Kaiser said.

Kaiser also urged updating competency standards used to determine whether a person can vote, arguing the law should require individualized due-process findings rather than categorical or outdated language. He said a separate bill already filed would address competency determinations in guardianship and conservatorship settings to avoid automatic disqualification based on unrelated judicial findings.

Both presenters warned against overreliance on the SAVE database for citizenship checks. Kaiser said the federal SAVE system has at times led to a disparate impact on naturalized citizens whose records are not up to date and recommended that the database not be used as the sole reason to deny registration.

The presenters referenced the Virginia Voting Rights Act and recent federal developments, including the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, as part of the rationale for state-level statutory clarifications to preserve remedies for vote dilution and suppression under state law.

No legislation was voted on at the meeting. Committee members thanked the presenters; the committee proceeded to announce subcommittee schedules and later adjourned.

The committee will begin subcommittee work next week with Election Administration, Campaigns and Candidates, Voting Rights, and Gubernatorial Appointments meeting at the days and times listed on the record.