National Voter Registration Day Held As Virginia Midterms, Local Elections Near

VIRGINIA — The drive to get people to the polls for the Nov. 8 midterm elections in Virginia started in earnest Tuesday with National Voter Registration Day, a nonpartisan civic holiday observed for the past decade to reach tens of thousands of Americans who might not otherwise register.

Virginia's general election on Tuesday, Nov. 8 includes congressional races statewide and local races in select areas. In Northern Virginia, local races will happen in Arlington County, City of Fairfax, Town of Herndon in Fairfax County, Loudoun County, towns of Hamilton, Leesburg, Lovettsville, Purcellville and Round Hill in Loudoun County, City of Manassas, City of Manassas Park, and towns of Dumfries, Haymarket, Occoquan and Quantico in Prince William County. Voters can view candidate lists for the U.S. House and local offices.

The last date to register to vote or update your voter registration in Virginia's general election is Oct. 17. Early voting will begin Friday, Sept. 23 and run through 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5. The last day to request a mail-in ballot is Oct. 28, and ballots must be returned or postmarked by Nov. 8.

Virginia has introduced numerous laws affecting voting in recent years. The Voting Rights Act of Virginia adopted in 2021 was modeled after the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, which sought to address discriminatory voting practices in southern states after the Civil War. The legislation prohibits voter qualifications or standards that would deny the right of a citizen to vote based on race, color or being in a language minority group. It also requires any changes to local voting laws and policies to be advertised for 30-day public comment.

In 2021, other legislation codified the creation of ballot drop-off locations and created a process allowing voters to correct procedural errors on absentee envelopes. Another bill allows people with a visual impairment or print disability to electronically receive and mark an absentee ballot. Early in-person voting was allowed on Sundays through other legislation.

Other major voting laws were passed in 2020: allowing no-excuse absentee voting, removing the photo ID requirement while still requiring a form of ID to vote, sending a person's information from the Virginia DMV to the Department of Elections with consent, and making Election Day a holiday in November.

In 2022, new legislation requires a list of deceased people to be transmitted to the Department of Elections weekly rather than monthly. Registrars are required to cancel voter registrations of people known to be deceased.

President Joe Biden said in a statement Monday the United States “has not always lived up to its promise of equal access to the right to vote,” decrying state legislatures he said “are passing new forms of voting restrictions to limit participating and choose whose vote can count at all.”

“As the late Representative John Lewis, an icon of the voting rights struggle, would say, ‘democracy is not a state; it is an act.’ Our Founding Fathers understood this, as did the suffragists at the National Women’s Rights Convention of 1848, the other giants of the Civil Rights Movement, and today’s activists working for a freer, fairer, and more accessible voting system. Just as securing and protecting voting rights was the test of their times, it continues to be the challenge of ours.”

Biden renewed his commitment to the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which together would “address election subversion, remove dark money from politics, end partisan gerrymandering, and fix the gaping holes in voter access left by the Supreme Court of the United States.”

He also said he is doubling both the number of voter advocates appointed to the Department of Justice and the agency’s voting rights enforcement staff, and also giving the agency purview over discriminatory laws before they go into effect.

On National Voter Registration Day, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin visited the Loudoun County Office of Elections and encouraged residents to register.

"Democracy is not a spectator sport. It’s #NationalVoterRegistrationDay and I encourage all Virginians across the Commonwealth to register to vote," Youngkin tweeted.

Virginia residents can register to vote online through the Virginia Department of Elections citizen portal, visit their local voter registration office, or visit other locations. Voter registration is open to Virginia residents who are U.S. citizens, at least 18 or will be 18 at the time of the general election, and not registered to vote in another state. Those convicted of a felony must have their right to vote restored before they can be eligible to vote.

More than 4.7 million Americans have been registered to vote in the Voter Registration Day project to date. More than 300,000 people registered to vote for the first time on the inaugural National Voter Registration Day in 2019. Some 1.5 million people registered through the project for the 2020 General Election, according to the website.

Last year, 233,571 Americans registered or updated their registration. Though considerably smaller than the number of people who registered for the 2020 presidential election, the number was still nearly twice the number registered in the previous post-presidential cycle, the report noted.

A step-by-step process on the National Voter Registration Day website guides potential voters through registration. For all potential voters: Check your registration status, especially if you’ve moved since you last voted, recently turned 18 or changed your name.