"Amendment in the nature of a substitute" - Gov. Spanberger adds technical adjustments to H630/SB176

Governor's recommendation:

"I approve the general purpose of this bill, but I am returning it without y signature with the request that the attached Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute be accepted."

The Governor's proposed substitute incorporates some of the language from the version of the bill sent to Gov. Youngkin the past two years. That bill was vetoed, but the technical adjustments it proposed are still helpful. Gov. Spanberger has opted to add some of that language back in to this year's version.

Section E: In any election conducted by ranked choice voting, final tabulation of votes shall be conducted at the meeting of the electoral board held pursuant to § 24.2-671.

Section G: The Department shall make public the total number and percentage of votes each candidate received in each round of the official tabulation, including votes for candidates who have withdrawn pursuant to § 24.2-612.2, and ballot-level ranking data on an election-by-election basis to the extent feasible and consistent with the need to maintain voter privacy.

Section J. For the purposes of conducting a recount pursuant to Article 1 (§ 24.2-800 et seq.) of Chapter 8, the State Board shall have the authority to create and modify recount procedures to the extent necessary to accommodate a recount of an election conducted by ranked choice voting. Any such risk-limiting audit shall be limited to an audit of first rankings reported by voting systems. (Language in italics has been added by the Governor.)

These changes codify procedures that were largely in place already and clarify what information should be released to the public. None of them are cause for concern and all of them have been passed by the legislature the past two years. Most importantly, the addition of town councils and the removal of the expiration date remain!

So what happens now?

The deadline has passed for the Governor's action on bills. Any bill to which she has added amendments will be taken up by the General Assembly at their Reconvene Session on April 22. Each chamber will take an up or down vote on the amendments to their version of the bill (HB630 in the House, SB176 in the Senate) and then send it to the other chamber. If it passes both chambers, it becomes law. If the amended version does not pass both chambers of the legislature, then it goes back to the Governor and she decides whether or not to sign the unamended version.