Virginia State Board of Elections
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The Virginia State Board of Elections (SBE) was created in 1946 as a nonpolitical agency responsible for ensuring uniformity, fairness, accuracy and purity in all elections in the
Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
of
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. The SBE promotes the proper administration of election laws, campaign finance disclosure compliance, and voter registration processes in the state by promulgating rules, regulations, issuing instructions, and providing information to local electoral boards and general registrars. In addition, the SBE maintains a centralized database of statewide voter registration and election related data.


State Board

The SBE is a five-member body consisting of a chair, vice-chair, secretary, and two other members, that manages the electoral process and investigates and adjudicates disputes and campaign law violations. Under the
Code of Virginia The Code of Virginia is the statutory law of the U.S. state of Virginia, and consists of the codified legislation of the Virginia General Assembly. The 1950 Code of Virginia is the revision currently in force. The previous official versions were ...
, "Three Board members shall be of the political party which cast the highest number of votes for Governor at that election." The Board has power to promulgate rules to initiate Circuit Court proceedings for the removal of county and city electoral board members. It can call on the
Attorney General of Virginia The attorney general of Virginia is an elected constitutional position that holds an executive office in the government of Virginia. Attorneys general are elected for a four-year term in the year following a presidential election. There are no ter ...
to initiate investigations. It also certifies independent and third-party candidates for the ballot, after sending their Petitions of Qualified Voters (
nominating petition A nominating petition is required in some jurisdictions, particularly in the United States of America, in order for an independent or non-major-party candidate to gain ballot access. A certain number of valid signatures is typically prescribed b ...
s) to local registrars for signature counting. The Board has power to prescribe such forms. It posts lists of candidates on the Internet.


Ballot access

Virginia has one of the most restrictive set of ballot access laws in the United States. According to the Code of Virginia subsectio
24.2-101
without "major party" status for automatic ballot access in Virginia, minor party and independent candidates have to gather petition signatures to get on the ballot. For example, the requirement for statewide elections is 10,000 signatures, including at least 400 from each of Virginia's 11 congressional districts. In order for a minor party to gain automatic ballot access as a major party, one of its nominated candidates must receive 10% of the vote in a statewide race. To obtain the signatures necessary to receive statewide ballot access in Virginia, it has been quoted to cost between $45,000 to $90,000 or up to $100,000.


Litigation

The Virginia State Board of Elections has been a party in a number of lawsuits.


''Sarvis v. Judd''

In July 2014, The Rutherford Institute supported the
Libertarian Party of Virginia The Libertarian Party of Virginia (LPVA) is the Virginia affiliate of the Libertarian Party. Ballot laws Ballot access laws Virginia has one of the most restrictive ballot access laws in the United States. According to the Code of Virginia s ...
and alleged Virginia ballot laws favored "the election chances of Democrat and Republican candidates at the expense of Libertarian Party and independent candidates." In
Robert C. Sarvis, et al. v. Charles E. Judd, et al
', the lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Libertarian Party of Virginia, several Libertarian Party candidates and an independent (non-party) candidate for public office in the November 2014 general election. The lawsuit challenged the Virginia State Board of Elections and the laws which require minor-party candidates to gather signatures on petitions to achieve ballot access as well as the laws which require minor-party and independent candidates' names to be placed below those of major-party candidates on the ballot.


''Libertarian Party of Virginia v. Judd''

In 2013, the
ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
supported the Libertarian Party of Virginia, and contended that the Libertarians would suffer "irreparable harm" given Virginia's ballot access laws. In ''
Libertarian Party of Virginia v. Judd Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
'', the Libertarian Party won the case regarding state residency requirements for petition circulators per the
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Maryla ...
on May 29, 2013. It was the first time a minor party had won a constitutional election law case in the Fourth Circuit since 1989 and 1988. In response to the Fourth Circuit's ruling, the State of Virginia via former Attorney General
Ken Cuccinelli Kenneth Thomas Cuccinelli II ( ; born July 30, 1968) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, ...
as well as several other states, like Oklahoma, submitted petitions to the
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
asking to reverse the Fourth Circuit's decision. On December 2, 2013, the petitions against the Fourth Circuit's ruling were denied by the Supreme Court, and so the Libertarian Party of Virginia won the case regarding state residency requirements for petition circulators.


''Perry v. Judd''

In January 2012, Texas Governor Rick Perry, former senator
Rick Santorum Richard John Santorum ( ; born May 10, 1958) is an American politician, attorney, and political commentator. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2007 and was the Senate's thir ...
, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. failed to qualify for the ballot and sued the State Board of Elections. U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney Jr. denied the request to add their names to Virginia's Republican primary ballot.


''Project Vote v. Long''

In February 2010, after receiving reports from local community partners regarding large numbers of rejected voter registration applications, Project Vote and its voting partner, Advancement Project, sought to review Norfolk's rejected registration applications to ascertain if qualified persons were unlawfully kept off the voting rolls. Elisa Long, the general registrar of Norfolk, and Nancy Rodrigues, secretary of the State Board of Elections denied Project Vote and Advancement Project the right to review the records, and both groups filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia. In July 2011, the Court granted Project Vote's Motion for Summary Judgment and ordered the Norfolk County Registrar "to permit access to any requesting party for copy and/or inspection of voter registration applications and related records," in compliance with public disclosure requirements under the ''National Voter Registration Act''.


''Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections''

In ''
Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections ''Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections'', 383 U.S. 663 (1966), was a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court found that Virginia's poll tax was unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. In the late 19th and ea ...
'' (1966) the U.S. Supreme Court found that Virginia's poll tax was unconstitutional under the
equal protection clause The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal ...
of the 14th Amendment. The 24th Amendment (1964) prohibited poll taxes in federal elections. However, five states continued to impose a poll tax for voters in state elections. By this ruling, the Supreme Court banned the use of a poll tax in state elections.


See also

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Elections in Virginia Elections in Virginia are authorized under Article I of the Virginia State Constitution, sections 5–6, and Article V which establishes elections for the state level officers, cabinet, and legislature. Article VII section 4 establishes the ele ...
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Virginia Department of Elections The Virginia Department of Elections is an agency that administers elections in Virginia. Its duties include maintaining a voter registration In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise e ...
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Election Assistance Commission The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is an independent agency of the United States government created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). The Commission serves as a national clearinghouse and resource of information regarding electi ...
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New York State Board of Elections The New York State Board of Elections is a bipartisan agency of the New York state government within the New York State Executive Department responsible for enforcement and administration of election-related laws. It also regulates campaign fina ...
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Oklahoma State Election Board The Oklahoma State Election Board is the governing body regarding elections in the state of Oklahoma. The Board is responsible for maintaining uniformly in the application, operation and interpretation of State and Federal election laws. Additiona ...


References

{{authority control Election commissions in the United States
Elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...
Virginia elections 1946 establishments in Virginia