Virginia Democrats are advancing two bills to extend deadlines for receiving and counting mail-in absentee ballots several days after Election Day.
Delegate Adele McClure and State Senator Barbara Favola, who represent Arlington, have introduced companion bills, HB 82 and SB 58, which will extend the deadline for counting absentee ballots in Virginia from noon to 5 p.m. on the third day after Election Day, reported ARL Now.
These bills are being presented as the White House seeks to curb voter fraud in Democrat-run states, particularly in regard to mail-in voting, which President Donald Trump claims is prone to widespread fraud.
Trump has vowed to sign an executive order to eliminate mail-in ballots and electronic voting machines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, allowing absentee ballots only for the seriously ill and military personnel overseas to restore election integrity.
“Mail-in ballots are corrupt. You can never have a real democracy with mail-in ballots,” Trump said on social media.
McClure and Favola said that their legislation to allow mail-in ballots to be counted well after the election will address delays caused by the U.S. Postal Service.
“According to USPS, the average piece of mail is delivered in 2.8 days. Given this timeframe, if absentee ballots are postmarked on election day (as is current law), they may not be delivered until after the 12:00 PM deadline,” Favola said.
The legislation will set a 5 p.m. deadline for voters to submit identification to have provisional ballots counted, without altering the postmark Election Day deadline for absentee ballots.
“Aligning this deadline with normal business hours would make it more flexible for working voters to submit their ballots, and this bill would make no change to who can vote or how votes are being counted,” said McClure.
“It would just simply update our procedures to reflect the modern voting realities including work schedules and delayed mail deliveries.”
The bills passed their respective chambers and advanced to the opposite chamber in the Democrat-dominated Virginia legislature before the crossover deadline.
If approved by both chambers, the legislation will go to Virginia's Democrat governor, Abigail Spanberger, for signing.
Meanwhile, the Democrats are pushing a voter referendum to amend the Virginia constitution to automatically restore rights of people convicted of felonies after their sentences are served, while another constitutional amendment by Delegate Jackie Glass to allow 16-year-olds to vote was carried over to 2027.
However, a bill to allow voters without valid ID to sign a statement and provide a personal statement in lieu of ID failed in committee.
The legislation received support from the League of Women Voters of Virginia.
“As we all know, the Postal Service is not quite as reliable as it has been in the past, particularly for deliveries in the morning hours,” Joan Porte, president of the League of Women Voters of Virginia, told the Virginia House Election Administration Subcommittee.
“Adjusting this deadline for the receipt of ballots on the third day from noon to 5 PM, usually on a Friday, will help ensure the voters’ ballots will be counted as intended by the law.”
Critics, like Clara Belle Wheeler of the Virginia Institute for Public Policy, warned that the extension could delay reporting results into the weekend or early next week.
“We have enough trouble keeping track of all the absentee ballots and getting them reported,” Wheeler told ALR Now.
“One-half more day is going to throw our work into the weekend and even following into the following Monday, making it impossible to get the results to the voters by adding this extra time."
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