My suggested amendments for 1 VAC 20-70-20 are as follows:
Delete the requirement in (B)(7) that the voter "provide the date on which he signed Envelope B." This is unnecessary and does not appear to be required by Va. Code 24.2-707. While the statement in 24.2-706 indicates that there is to be a line for the date in the Statement of Voter, 24.2-707 does not require that the date be included by the voter, while it does require that the voter and the witness sign the Statement of Voter on Envelope B. The absence in 24.2-707 is telling. This part of the regulation has real-life consequences: in the June 2013 primary, one voter's ballot was rejected solely because she had not dated the Envelope B. The ballot was otherwise fine.
Deleting paragraph (B)(9) and adding proposed (C)(10) are good changes! The issue with sealing the ballot is especially problematic for UOCAVA voters who received their ballots by email. It can also be an issue for non-UOCAVA voters, as we have no way of determining if the voter sealed Envelope B and, because of faulty glue, it subsequently became unsealed. The proposed changes are good because they comply with the election laws of Virginia, and they err on the side of the voter.
