FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 24, 2023
Lawmakers should stand for fair, secure, and accountable elections voters can trust
Arlington, VA – Several harmful pieces of election legislation are expected to receive consideration this week in Virginia’s state House and Senate committees.
Importantly, HB 2242 would undermine transparency and trust in elections by prohibiting FOIA requests to local electoral boards and general registrars within a specific timeframe before and after an election. The Democrat bill would force Virginia registrars to ban and suppress voters’ rights to public election information for over a third of the year, and in some cases over half of the year, making Virginia the least transparent state in the U.S. for voters seeking information about elections.
Other harmful legislation includes SB 1180, which would repeal the anti-corruption law signed by Gov. Youngkin last year to prevent Big Tech oligarchs like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg from manipulating local elections for partisan turnout, and SB 1380, which would legalize the Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) Scheme in presidential primaries. The RCV scheme has been a recipe for disaster, leading to confusion and disenfranchisement among voters—further undermining their confidence in election outcomes while protecting failed incumbents who have long-lost the confidence of voters.
Additional legislation has also been introduced to permit the RCV scheme, including HB 2118, HB 2301, and HB 1751.
National Chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued the following statement:
“Democrats in the General Assembly along with former governor Ralph Northam systematically gutted election integrity in Virginia, making 60 changes to our state’s election laws and transforming them into some of the weakest in the nation. Now, anti-election integrity Democrats in Richmond want nothing more than to chip away at the remaining vestiges of fair, secure, and transparent elections by convincing unwitting Republicans to go along. Make no mistake, lawmakers should never give an inch on the private funding of elections, which was banned last year via a historic, anti-corruption law signed by Gov. Youngkin, and they should never allow a disastrous Ranked Choice Voting Scheme—designed by the Left to destroy election integrity and preserve the status quo—to see the light of day.
“The fundamental purpose of election integrity is to protect the right to vote in elections every voter can trust, regardless of where you live, your race, or party affiliation. It’s to ensure that that every legal vote can be cast and counted fairly, openly, and equally. SB 884 and SB 1251 accomplish these objectives, and we urge their full support.”
Positive legislation under consideration this week includes SB 884, which would enact ballot security measures including repealing same day voter registration, requiring an excuse for absentee voting, stronger voter ID requirements, making ballot trafficking illegal, and more.
SB 1251 would require that two election officers, one from each of the two major political parties, deliver ballots and other election materials to the registrar on election night. Current law only requires one election officer to complete this task and allows the delivery to happen the next morning.
The Election Transparency Initiative, a partnership between the American Principles Project (APP) and Susan B. Anthony (SBA) Pro-Life America was organized to combat federal H.R. 1 and H.R. 4 legislation and advocate for state-based election reforms that voters can trust.
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