A. The Department of Elections shall establish a voter list maintenance program using the change of address information supplied by the United States Postal Service through its licensees or by other reliable sources to identify voters whose addresses may have changed. Any such program shall be regular and periodic and shall be conducted at least annually. The program shall be completed not later than ninety days prior to the date of a federal primary or federal general election.

Terms Used In Virginia Code 24.2-428

  • City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
  • Department: means the state agency headed by the Commissioner of Elections. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Election: means a general, primary, or special election. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • General registrar: means the person appointed by the electoral board of a county or city pursuant to § 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Registered voter: means any person who is maintained on the Virginia voter registration system. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Registration records: means all official records concerning the registration of qualified voters and shall include all records, lists, applications, and files, whether maintained in books, on cards, on automated data bases, or by any other legally permitted record-keeping method. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
  • United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255

B. If it appears from information provided by the Postal Service or by other reliable sources that a voter has moved to a different address in the same county or city in which the voter is currently registered, the Department shall provide to the general registrar the information necessary to change the registration records to show the new address, and the Department or the general registrar shall send to the new address of the voter by forwardable mail, a notice of the change, along with a postage prepaid, pre-addressed return card by which the voter may verify or correct the address information.

C. If it appears from information provided by the Postal Service or by other reliable sources that a voter has moved to a different address not in the same county or city, the Department or the general registrar shall send to the last known address of the voter by forwardable mail, a notice on a form prescribed by the Department, along with a postage prepaid and pre-addressed return card on which the voter may state his current address.

D. The registered voter shall complete and sign the return card subject to felony penalties for making false statements pursuant to § 24.2-1016.

E. The general registrar shall correct his registration records from the information obtained from the return card. If the information indicates that the registered voter has moved to another general registrar’s jurisdiction within the Commonwealth, the general registrar shall transfer the registration record, along with the return card, to the appropriate general registrar who shall treat the request for a change of address as a request for transfer and shall send a voter registration card as confirmation of the transfer to the voter pursuant to § 24.2-424. If the general registrar does not receive the return card provided for in subsection C of this section within thirty days after it is sent to the voter, the registered voter’s name shall be placed on inactive status. A registered voter’s failure to receive the notice shall not affect the validity of the inactivation.

Code 1950, §§ 24-96, 24-97, 24-107; 1954, c. 690; 1962, c. 536; 1964, c. 538; 1970, c. 462, §§ 24.1-59, 24.1-60; 1972, c. 620; 1973, c. 30; 1975, c. 515; 1976, c. 616; 1982, c. 650; 1986, c. 241; 1990, c. 313; 1991, c. 10; 1993, c. 641; 1996, cc. 72, 73; 2000, c. 857; 2015, c. 740.

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