Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Elections
 
Board
State Board of Elections
 
chapter
Absentee Voting [1 VAC 20 ‑ 70]
Chapter is Exempt from Article 2 of the Administrative Process Act
Action 2014 Absentee Material Omissions
Stage Proposed
Comment Period Ended on 7/21/2014
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7/19/14  5:58 pm
Commenter: Thomas Fina, former Fairfax County Chief Elections Officer

Absentee voter restrictions
 

I worked for may years as an Elections Officer in Fairfax County and never encountered any problem about a street identifier or confusion about the proper identification of which generation in a household  was voting.

I believe that adding such obstacles to voting is unnecessary and further restricts the franchaise.

I have also worked for some 17 years helping Americans living abroad to vote absentee. This is a considerable electorate and adding the street ientifier and generational identification requirement would make access to the ballot box by overseas voters even more difficult than it is already.

The State Board of Elections should be searching for ways to expand the franchaise to strengthen our democracy rather than impose obstacles to citizen participation in our governance.

CommentID: 33382