House passes voter fraud laws

At the midpoint of the 2017 legislative session, the House of Delegates has passed several measures to help address voter fraud in Virginia.

First, the House endorsed my House Bill 2343.  Because of laws we’ve passed in the last few years, the State Board of Elections is required to work with other states to identify voters who are registered in multiple states.  My bill would require the State Board to share this data with local registrars so that the registrars can use it to clean up voter lists.  The bill passed the House 68-30.

Second, Delegate Mark Cole’s House Bill 1598, would require proof of citizenship before a voter could be registered to vote in state elections.  This passed the House 64-33.

Third, Delegate Buddy Fowler’s House Bill 1428 would require a photo ID for absentee ballots.  This passed the House 61-35.

Last, in a bill prompted by voter registration fraud in the 2016 elections, Delegate Cole presented House Bill 1431, which would prohibit groups performing voter registration drives from paying their workers based on how many registrations were collected.  This passed 96-2.

We are hopeful these measures will now pass the State Senate and be sent to the Governor.  You can follow their progress by clicking here.

Sincerely,
Delegate Rob Bell