Virginia Elections Commissioner Susan Beals checks in at the Chesterfield County elections office on the first day of early voting. (Photo by Graham Moomaw/Virginia Mercury)

‘I have faith in our election officials and their commitment to their profession’

By Graham Moomaw, Virginia Mercury
September 26, 2022

As a woman in a purple blazer lined up to cast a ballot on the first day of early voting in Chesterfield County, one election worker nudged another and said: “She’s the boss.”

It took less than 10 minutes for Susan Beals, Virginia’s new commissioner of elections, to vote early in Chesterfield, the Richmond-area suburb where she served as a local electoral board member before Gov. Glenn Youngkin appointed her to the state’s top election job. 

There were no problems as she showed her ID, had a ballot made in front of her by one of the on-demand ballot printers many cities and counties are adopting for early voting, filled it out and fed it into a scanner as one of the first few dozen midterm votes cast in her home county.

While a significant number of her fellow Republicans continue to stoke doubts about the 2020 election, Beals, a 47-year-old former GOP aide, said in an interview she’s confident in the election process she’s overseeing at the state level for the first time.

“We have a dependable system in Virginia,” said Beals. “We can always make process improvements, and that’s something that I’m committed to.”

Beals said “people are entitled to have questions” about the process, but the answers are readily available.

“Find somebody who knows the answer,” she said. “Seek out an election official and ask them how the process works. Because most of them would be very happy to tell you.”

Beals, who served on the Chesterfield electoral board for several years before Youngkin picked her in March to lead the state agency, has had other important business on her plate that doesn’t involve actual voting, like taking over an ongoing information technology project to replace the state’s voter system. She’s also been preparing an outreach campaign to inform voters about the impacts of redistricting, an initiative that will involve roughly 6 million voter notices that should hit mailboxes early this week.

But the start of the 45-day early voting window on Friday, in a year when Virginia will have at least two hotly contested congressional races on the ballot, will cast a new spotlight on how Youngkin’s administration will handle the work of running elections.

Beals praised the thousands of election officers across Virginia who are getting to work helping people vote, calling them “patriotic Americans” who are “committed to making democracy work.” Asked if she believes those sowing mistrust about elections are making that job harder, Beals said “there’s a lot of scrutiny of elections right now.”

“But everything I have seen from election officials is that they are conducting themselves professionally,” she said. “I have faith in our election officials and their commitment to their profession and their commitment to their communities.”

Asked how she feels about the “election integrity” unit Attorney General Jason Miyares recently announced, which has drawn backlash from Democrats who say it feeds into conspiracy theorizing about stolen elections, Beals characterized it as fairly routine.

“To me that’s a normal relationship that we have,” she said. “They provide advice. If there is something that needs to be investigated, our board will vote to turn it over to the AG and ask them to investigate it.”

Virginia Republicans failed to repeal or scale back voting reforms Democrats passed two years ago when they had full political control, meaning the 45-day early voting window and the law making photo IDs optional will still be in place for Virginia’s midterms. 

The major change to state election policy this year is same-day registration, a policy Democrats passed in 2020 with a delayed effective date of October 2022. The new policy allows people to continue to register and cast a provisional ballot after the regular voter registration period closes Oct. 17. 

Beals said she’s not encouraging potential voters to put things off to take advantage of that new law, because registering in advance remains the easiest voting experience. Anyone casting a provisional ballot won’t be feeding it into the scanners as other voters do, she said, because election officials have to take time to research whether the person is a valid voter or not.

“I would very much prefer that everyone who wants to vote in this election try to get registered before October 17,” Beals said. “Because we want you to vote a regular ballot.”

Youngkin talks elections in Texas

As early voting got underway, the man who hired Beals was taking a stage in Austin at the Texas Tribune Festival, where the topic of Republican election denialism came up as Youngkin sat for an interview at the high-profile political event.

David M. Drucker, a political correspondent with the Washington Examiner, asked Youngkin about his planned campaign stops for Republican candidates like Kari Lake, the GOP nominee for governor in Arizona who insists, falsely, that former President Donald Trump won in 2020. 

“You are comfortable supporting Republicans that have issues or dispute the outcome of the last election?” Drucker asked.

“I am comfortable supporting Republican candidates. And we don’t agree on everything,” Youngkin replied. “I have said that I firmly believe that Joe Biden was elected president.”

Closer to home, Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, who has spread 2020 conspiracy theories without producing evidence of widespread fraud in Virginia’s election, has called on Youngkin to suspend the use of all “voting computers” in Virginia and switch to hand-counting all ballots.

There’s been no sign the Youngkin administration is taking her suggestion seriously, and the state usually avoids making major changes just as an election is beginning.

Paper ballots are used throughout Virginia after the state discontinued the use of touch-screen voting machines in 2017 due to security concerns.

Beals, who once worked as an aide to Chase, called paper ballots “one of the most secure ways to vote” and indicated she had no problem with the state continuing to use scanners that are routinely tested for accuracy.

“It is a counting machine,” Beals said. “It is not a voting machine. It is a machine that counts ballots.”

As Beals waited for a coffee at a Starbucks near the Chesterfield voting office, she got a text message from her predecessor. Former elections commissioner Chris Piper, whom Youngkin chose not to keep in the job, wished her well as her first election got underway.

“You got this!” Piper said.

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sarah Vogelsong for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.

by Graham Moomaw, Virginia Mercury
September 22, 2022

After past redistricting cycles, the number of Virginia General Assembly members having to switch districts was kept to a minimum because legislators were allowed to draw careful lines around each other’s homes to avoid doing damage to incumbents.

That wasn’t the case last year, when experts appointed by the Supreme Court of Virginia effectively reset the state’s legislative maps with little regard for keeping incumbents comfortably installed in conflict-free seats. That means an unusually high number of legislators are facing the prospect of moving to position themselves for the next election cycle.

Those maps are also drawing new attention to a little-known provision in the Virginia Constitution that says any delegate or senator who moves out of their current district to run in a new one automatically forfeits the office they hold. But legislators also have to prove their residency in the new districts in order to qualify as valid candidates, a process that takes place long before the current legislative terms are over.

With the electoral landscape still taking shape for the high-stakes 2023 General Assembly elections, when all 140 state legislative seats will be on the ballot, there have been no residency challenges yet. Still, the question of how the constitutional rule might affect the legislature next year is already being discussed in hushed tones around the Capitol.

“I think it’s making some people nervous,” said Del. Mark Sickles, D-Fairfax.

Under the new maps approved last year, half of the state’s 40 senators were drawn into a district with one or more other senators, according to analysis by the Virginia Public Access Project. In the House, 44 of 100 delegates were paired with at least one colleague. Some of those pairings have already been resolved, partly because the maps also created dozens of new districts with no incumbent. Legislators paired with each other have a few basic options: a head-to-head election matchup with a colleague, resignation or running for a different seat.

Due to the uncertainty over which specific members the rule could impact, some legislators and aides seemed reluctant to discuss the issue candidly.

“I’ll just say I’m aware of it,” House of Delegates Speaker Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, said with a smile in a brief interview on the House floor earlier this month.

The issue has also been raised in Senate Democratic Caucus meetings as something members should be aware of as they make plans for next year.

Unlike members of Congress, Virginia General Assembly members are required to live in the districts they serve or are running to represent. And the state constitution is clear on what happens if someone moves out of their district.

“A senator or delegate who moves his residence from the district for which he is elected shall thereby vacate his office,” the key section says.

That rule came into play in 2015, when then-Del. Joe Morrissey filed paperwork to run for the state Senate that listed a Richmond address outside his Henrico County-based district. At the time, Morrissey, now a state senator, agreed to vacate his former office and allow a special election to take place, but said he would continue to serve his constituents in an unofficial capacity out of his law office.

Over the next six months, an errant move by a lawmaker or an intentional decision to step down early could have a similar impact. Significantly, an empty seat could deprive a political caucus of a vote in the 2023 legislative session, even if the person who vacated it might go on to win and return in 2024 from another district. 

It won’t be a problem for General Assembly members who move to run in a new district without leaving their current one. For example, Democratic Sen. Creigh Deeds is able to move from rural Bath County to Charlottesville to run in a redrawn district, because Charlottesville is part of the area he represents now.

“They just have to move to an overlapping area,” said Jeff Ryer, a longtime Senate GOP aide. “And I cannot recall a circumstance where there was not an overlapping area.”

The new districts for 2023 are strikingly different than they have been thanks to the redistricting reform amendment Virginia voters approved in 2020. The overhauled redistricting process led to maps being drawn by court-appointed experts instead of incumbent legislators who could protect themselves by maintaining the status quo as much as possible.

It’s difficult to track which lawmakers live where at any given moment, because General Assembly members aren’t required to file that information on a real-time basis.The full scope of the reshuffling may not become clear until next spring, when General Assembly candidates have to file campaign paperwork listing an address in the district that matches their voter registration records. That deadline usually falls in late March, after the General Assembly has finished its regular session but before lawmakers reconvene to take up vetoes and amendments from the governor.

“You may have some folks that have to decide how badly do you guys really need me at reconvene,” said Del. Marcus Simon, D-Fairfax.

Even though the law is fairly clear, controversies about political figures’ residency are often clouded by ambiguity. Lawmakers can have multiple homes, and it can be difficult to find out whether an address listed on official paperwork is truly where they’re spending most of their time.

Questions were raised last year about whether Republican candidate Mark Earley Jr. really lived in the Richmond-area House district he was running in, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. But a special prosecutor cleared him of wrongdoing after concluding Earley had made a simple paperwork mistake by not disclosing the house he owned outside the district as he moved in with his parents to run for the seat.

Mandatory financial disclosure forms General Assembly members have to file each year require legislators to disclose real estate holdings, but they don’t have to report their “principal residence.” The forms, which are overseen by the Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council, also advise state and local elected officials not to list exact addresses for their real estate holdings. However, that information can usually be obtained through searches of local property records.

The General Assembly’s two clerks, who oversee the legislature’s administrative side, keep lawmakers’ home mailing addresses on file. But there’s nothing requiring lawmakers to notify the clerks when they move. And the lists kept by the clerks aren’t made public.

“It’s considered a personnel record,” said House Clerk G. Paul Nardo.

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sarah Vogelsong for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.

By Natalie Barr, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia voters can cast their ballots for the November election starting Friday, Sept. 23. 

Voters can submit absentee ballots by mail or in person at their local registrar’s office, commonly referred to as early voting. No application or reason is necessary to vote early. Some jurisdictions may have additional satellite locations, according to a press release from the Virginia Department of Elections. 

Early in-person voting will also be held the two Saturdays preceding Election Day. In-person early voting ends on Nov. 5, the Saturday before the election.

New this year is the ability to register to vote up to and on Election Day. Any voters who register after the Oct. 17 deadline will be given a provisional ballot. Legislators have passed voting reform measures in recent years that expand access to the polls. 

VCU Votes, a student-led coalition at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, educates students on the importance of voting, according to the organization's mission statement. The coalition recently held a student voter registration event on National Voter Registration Day.

Cameron Hart, director of partnerships for VCU Votes, said the group also promotes the importance of elections. Students need the space to educate themselves and develop their own thoughts and make their own decisions, Hart said.

“It’s very important to vote and use your voice and exercise that civic duty,” Hart said.

Many students who came to the event were already registered to vote, Hart said. Hart wants people to view voting as important for all elections, not just presidential races.

“I feel like it’s important to vote in any election, but also stressing the importance of voting locally,” Hart said. “This election is directly affecting us. If you feel a certain way about a law, voting can help express your voice in order to maybe reverse that law.”

The upcoming election will be the first time voting for physical therapy student Nikolett Kormos. Kormos, a freshman, said she registered to vote at the event. 

“I think it’s super important to vote, and for young people to vote,” Kormos said. “It keeps us educated.”

Absentee ballots will be mailed starting Sept. 23 to military and overseas voters, and to anyone who has applied to receive one, according to a state Department of Elections press release. 

Voters can request a mail-in absentee ballot through the Department of Elections site until Oct. 28. Mailed ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 8 and received by the registrar no later than noon on the third day following the election, according to the Department of Elections. Mailed ballots also require a witness signature. Ballots can be dropped off at the registrar’s office by 7 p.m. on Election Day. 

Voters can direct questions to their general registrar’s office or the Department of Elections, where they can also see what types of identification are accepted. 

Capital News Service is a program of Virginia Commonwealth University's Robertson School of Media and Culture. Students in the program provide state government coverage for a variety of media outlets in Virginia.