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Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin announced an executive order on Wednesday mandating the use of paper ballots in the state.
Executive Order 35 includes multiple election security procedures to ensure that Virginians have faith in the electoral process.
In the order, Youngkin wrote, “Under my Administration, Virginia has made unprecedented strides in improving the accuracy of our voter list including substantial updates for removal of deceased voters and protection against non-citizen registration.”
He detailed several improvements the state has made, including the establishment of “comprehensive data-sharing agreements with seven states,” along with “additional data from 42 states.”
He outlined various measures the state has taken to clean up voter rolls, such as National Change of Address mailings to remove people who no longer live in Virginia, along with using a death record database and audit to remove deceased voters. Youngkin noted that those procedures led to the removal of 79,867 deceased voters in 2023.
The order requires the Commissioner of the Department of Elections to provide a written certification to the Governor each year attesting to compliance with the election security procedures.
It includes a long list of requirements, including a “documented chain of custody for paper ballots with daily reconciliation during early voting.” The commissioner must ensure that “ballots are tracked through every step of the process,” and a reconciliation of the “number of voters checked in and number of ballots distributed to voters” during early voting and on election day.
The commissioner must attest that “no ballot counting machines are connected to the internet.” The counting machines must also be “certified to state and federal standards” and must be tested before they are used.
The elections commissioner must also confirm that the election results go through a “triple-check,” which includes a check by precinct election officers on election night, a post-election canvass by Electoral Boards and state-level checks at the Department of Elections.
The elections commissioner must attest that the state voter list is updated daily with the addition of new eligible voters, and removal of voters who have moved, died, are ineligible and are non-citizens.
