Virginia Code 24.2-671: Electoral board to meet and ascertain results; conclusiveness of results
Each electoral board shall meet at the clerk’s or general registrar‘s office of the county or city for which they are appointed at or before 5:00 p.m. on the day after any election. The board may adjourn to another room of sufficient size in a public building to ascertain the results, and may adjourn as needed, not to exceed seven calendar days from the date of the election unless an extension has been granted to accommodate a risk-limiting audit conducted pursuant to § 24.2-671.2. Written directions to the location of any room other than the clerk’s or general registrar’s office where the board will meet shall be posted at the doors of the clerk’s and general registrar’s offices prior to the beginning of the meeting.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 24.2-671
- Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
- Board: means the State Board of Elections. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
- 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
- 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
- local electoral board: means a board appointed pursuant to § 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
- Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
- Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
The board shall open the returns delivered by the officers.
If the electoral board has exercised the option provided by § 24.2-668 for delivery of the election materials to the office of the general registrar on the night of the election, the electoral board shall meet at the office of the general registrar at or before 5:00 p.m. on the day after any election.
The board shall ascertain from the returns the total votes in the county or city, or town in a town election, for each candidate and for and against each question and complete the abstract of votes cast at such election, as provided for in § 24.2-675. For any office in which no person was elected by write-in votes, and for which the total number of write-in votes for that office is less than (i) 10 percent of the total number of votes cast for that office and (ii) the total number of votes cast for the candidate receiving the most votes, the electoral board shall ascertain the total votes for each write-in candidate for the office within one week following the election. For offices for which the electoral board issues the certificate of election, the result so ascertained, signed and attested, shall be conclusive and shall not thereafter be subject to challenge except as specifically provided in Chapter 8 of Title 9.1, whose employment or performance of his duties occurs within 40 feet of any building, or part thereof, used as a meeting place for the local electoral board while the electoral board meets to ascertain the results of an election.
Code 1950, §§ 24-271, 24-272; 1970, c. 462, § 24.1-146; 1973, c. 30; 1981, c. 425; 1991, c. 388; 1992, c. 329; 1993, c. 641; 1996, cc. 8, 223; 2003, c. 1015; 2005, c. 824; 2006, c. 689; 2014, c. 486; 2018, c. 536; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 459; 2022, cc. 443, 444.