Virginia Code 24.2-612: List of offices and candidates filed with Department of Elections and checked for accuracy; when ballots printed; number required.
Immediately after the expiration of the time provided by law for a candidate for any office to qualify to have his name printed on the official ballot and prior to printing the ballots for an election, each general registrar shall forward to the Department of Elections a list of the county, city, or town offices to be filled at the election and the names of all candidates who have filed for each office. In addition, each general registrar shall forward the name of any candidate who failed to qualify with the reason for his disqualification. On that same day, the general registrar shall also provide a copy of the notice to each disqualified candidate. The notice shall be sent by email or regular mail to the address on the candidate’s certificate of candidate qualification, and such notice shall be deemed sufficient. The Department of Elections shall promptly advise the general registrar of the accuracy of the list. The failure of any general registrar to send the list to the Department of Elections for verification shall not invalidate any election.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 24.2-612
- Board: means the State Board of Elections. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
- Candidate: means a person who seeks or campaigns for an office of the Commonwealth or one of its governmental units in a general, primary, or special election and who is qualified to have his name placed on the ballot for the office. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
- City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
- Department: means the state agency headed by the Commissioner of Elections. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
- Election: means a general, primary, or special election. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
- Election district: means the territory designated by proper authority or by law which is represented by an official elected by the people, including the Commonwealth, a congressional district, a General Assembly district, or a district for the election of an official of a county, city, town, or other governmental unit. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
- General registrar: means the person appointed by the electoral board of a county or city pursuant to § Virginia Code 24.2-101
- in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Virginia Code 1-257
- Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
- Paper ballot: means a tangible ballot that is marked by a voter and then manually counted. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
- Printed ballot: means a tangible ballot that is printed on paper and includes both machine-readable ballots and paper ballots. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
- Special election: means any election that is held pursuant to law to fill a vacancy in office or to hold a referendum. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
- Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
Each general registrar shall have printed the number of ballots he determines will be sufficient to conduct the election. Such determination shall be based on the number of active registered voters and historical election data, including voter turnout, and shall be subject to the approval by the electoral board.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this title, the Department of Elections may print or otherwise provide one statewide paper ballot style for each paper ballot style in use for presidential and vice-presidential electors for use only by persons eligible to vote for those offices only under § 24.2-402 or only for federal elections under § 24.2-453. The Department of Elections may apportion or authorize the printer or vendor to apportion the costs for these ballots among the localities based on the number of ballots ordered. Any printer employed by the Department of Elections shall execute the statement required by § 24.2-616. The Department of Elections shall designate a representative to be present at the printing of such ballots and deliver them to the appropriate general registrars pursuant to § 24.2-617. Upon receipt of such paper ballots, the electoral board or the general registrar shall affix the seal of the electoral board. Thereafter, such ballots shall be handled and accounted for, and the votes counted as the Department of Elections shall specifically direct.
The general registrar shall make printed ballots available for absentee voting not later than 45 days prior to any election or within three business days of the receipt of a properly completed absentee ballot application, whichever is later. In the case of a special election, excluding for federal offices, if time is insufficient to meet the applicable deadline established herein, then the general registrar shall make printed ballots available as soon after the deadline as possible. For the purposes of this chapter, making printed ballots available includes mailing of such ballots or electronic transmission of such ballots pursuant to § 24.2-706 to a covered voter, as defined in § 24.2-452, who has applied for an absentee ballot pursuant to § 24.2-701. Not later than five days after absentee ballots are made available, each general registrar shall report to the Department of Elections, in writing on a form approved by the Department of Elections, whether he has complied with the applicable deadline.
Only the names of candidates for offices to be voted on in a particular election district shall be printed on the ballots for that election district.
The general registrar shall send to the Department of Elections a statement of the number of ballots ordered to be printed, proofs of each printed ballot for verification, and copies of each final ballot. If the Department of Elections finds that, in its opinion, the number of ballots ordered to be printed by any general registrar is not sufficient, it may direct the general registrar to order the printing of a reasonable number of additional ballots.
Code 1950, §§ 24-213, 24-214; 1952, c. 4; 1954, c. 513; 1956, c. 395; 1970, c. 462, § 24.1-109; 1972, c. 620; 1980, c. 639; 1981, c. 425; 1984, c. 480; 1993, c. 641; 2003, c. 1015; 2009, c. 522; 2010, cc. 449, 645; 2011, cc. 427, 458; 2012, c. 353; 2013, c. 684; 2014, cc. 540, 576; 2015, c. 313; 2016, cc. 18, 492; 2017, cc. 167, 356; 2019, cc. 668, 669; 2020, cc. 1149, 1151, 1201.