For Virginia Voters Who Mess Up Their Absentee Ballot, A New Law Gives Them A Second Chance

[mahatmakanejeeves]

OCT 26, 3:36 PM

For Virginia Voters Who Mess Up Their Absentee Ballot, A New Law Gives Them A Second Chance

Hannah Schuster https://twitter.com/hschuster28

Virginia voters who make a mistake filling out their absentee ballots for the November election are getting a chance to correct errors, like a missing signature, that might ordinarily lead to their votes getting rejected.

A new law in effect for this election cycle sets up what’s known as a ballot “cure” process, requiring that election officials reach out to voters whose ballots have been flagged because of errors. It’s one of a series of voting-related policies that Democrats advanced during a special legislative session that started in August and is beginning to wrap up. ... D.C. and Maryland also have a method to cure ballots, election officials said.

More than 760,000 people have returned absentee ballots in Virginia so far, either via drop boxes or through the mail. Most have done so without issue, and local jurisdictions are often seeing less than 1% of ballots with paperwork errors.

But election officials say they want every vote to count. And because of the coronavirus pandemic, an unprecedented number of people will vote by mail this year, many for the first time.

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[soothsayer]

1. Great!