Virginia Law

Article 8. Registration Records Generally.

A. Registration records shall be kept and preserved by the general registrar in compliance with §§ 2.2-3803, 2.2-3808, and 24.2-114. The Department shall provide to each general registrar, for each precinct in his county or city, lists of registered voters for inspection. The lists shall contain the name, address, year of birth, gender and all election districts applicable to each registered voter. The lists shall be opened to public inspection at the office of the general registrar when the office is open for business. New lists shall be provided not less than once each year to all localities except those in which an updated list is made available electronically for public inspection, and supplements containing additions, deletions, and changes shall be provided not less than (i) weekly during the 60 days preceding any general election and (ii) monthly at other times. Notwithstanding any other provision of law regarding the retention of records, upon receipt of any new complete list, the general registrar shall destroy the obsolete list and its supplements. The Department shall provide to each general registrar lists of persons denied registration for public inspection. Such lists may be provided electronically through the Virginia voter registration system and produced in whole or in part upon a request for public inspection.

B. The general registrars shall maintain for at least two years and shall make available for public inspection and copying and, where available, photocopying at a reasonable cost, all records concerning the implementation of programs and activities conducted for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy and currency of the registration records pursuant to §§ 24.2-427, 24.2-428 and 24.2-428.1, including lists of the names and addresses of all persons to whom notices are sent, and information concerning whether each person has responded to the notice as of the date that inspection of the records is made.

C. No list provided by the Department under subsection A nor any record made available for public inspection under subsection B shall contain any of the following information: (i) an individual's social security number, or any part thereof; (ii) the residence address of an individual who has furnished a post office box address in lieu of his residence address as authorized by subsection B of § 24.2-418; (iii) the declination by an individual to register to vote and related records; (iv) the identity of a voter registration agency through which a particular voter is registered; or (v) the day and month of birth of an individual. No voter registration records other than the lists provided by the Department under subsection A and the records made available under subsection B shall be open to public inspection.

Code 1950, § 24-113; 1970, c. 462, § 24.1-56; 1993, c. 641; 1994, c. 656; 1996, cc. 72, 73; 2001, cc. 612, 626; 2003, c. 1015; 2007, cc. 311, 318; 2008, c. 379; 2009, c. 318; 2012, c. 353; 2015, c. 740.

In the event of a conflict as to whether a person is registered to vote, the registration and voting records in the possession of the general registrar shall be controlling.

1970, c. 462, § 24.1-28; 1993, c. 641.

Whenever the registration records of a county or city have been destroyed by fire or otherwise, the Department shall provide substitute active registration records obtained from the Virginia voter registration system.

For active registration records not retrievable from the system, the general registrar shall give notice that he is reconstructing such records by posting the notice at ten places in the jurisdiction or publishing it once in a newspaper having general circulation in the jurisdiction.

In the reconstruction, the registrar shall place on the registration records the names of all voters known by him who have been previously registered, or who can show by evidence satisfactory to the registrar that their names were on the old records and who still reside in the county or city.

Code 1950, § 24-91; 1970, c. 462, § 24.1-58; 1993, c. 641; 2015, c. 740.

Any person validly registered to vote as of December 1, 1993, shall continue to be registered subject to the provisions of this title.

Code 1950, § 24-117; 1970, c. 462, § 24.1-69; 1993, c. 641.