24.2-424 - Change of registered voter's address within the Commonwealth; pilot project.
§ 24.2-424. Change of registered voter's address within the Commonwealth;pilot project.
A. Whenever a registered voter changes his place of residence within theCommonwealth, he shall promptly notify any general registrar of the addressof his new residence. Such notice may be made in person, in writing, byreturn of the voter registration card noting the new address, or on a formapproved by the State Board of Elections, which may be electronic. The noticein writing may be provided by mail or by facsimile and shall be signed by thevoter unless he is physically unable to sign, in which case his own markacknowledged by a witness shall be sufficient signature. The State Board isauthorized to conduct a pilot program, under which electronic notice may beprovided by electronic mail or such other electronic means as may bepermitted by the State Board and signed by the voter in a manner consistentwith the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (§ 59.1-479 et seq.). The factthat a voter provides an address on a candidate or referendum petition thatdiffers from the address for the voter on the voter registration system shallnot be deemed sufficient notice, in and of itself, to change the voter'sregistration address. Any statements made by any voter applying for transferare subject to felony penalties for making a false statement pursuant to §24.2-1016.
B. If the voter has moved within the same county or city, on receipt of thenotification, the general registrar for that county or city shall (i) enterthe new address on the registration record; (ii) if satisfied that theregistered voter has moved into another precinct within the same county orcity, transfer the registration of the voter to that precinct; and (iii)issue the voter a new voter registration card. This transfer may be enteredin the registration records at any time the registration records are notclosed pursuant to § 24.2-416.
C. Any request for transfer or change of address within the Commonwealthdelivered to any registrar shall be forwarded to the general registrar forthe city or county in the Commonwealth where the voter now resides. Whenforwarding said notice, or upon request from the registrar for the county orcity where the voter now resides, the registrar for the county or city wherethe voter formerly resided shall forward the original application forregistration to the registrar for the voter's new locality.
D. Upon receipt of the voter's original registration application, and noticeas specified in subsection A of this section indicating the voter's currentresidence, the registrar for the county or city in which the voter currentlyresides shall: (i) enter the new address on the registration record; (ii) ifsatisfied that the registered voter has moved into a precinct within thatcounty or city, transfer the registration of the voter to that precinct;(iii) issue the voter a new voter registration card; and (iv) through theVirginia voter registration system, notify the registrar of the localitywhere the voter formerly resided that the registration has been transferred.This transfer may be entered in the registration records at any time theregistration records are not closed pursuant to § 24.2-416.
E. If the original registration application is no longer available to theregistrar in the city or county where the voter formerly resided, either ofthe following shall be sent to and accepted by the registrar in the city orcounty where the voter now resides in lieu of such application: (i) anunsigned voter card (or "conversion card") used as the voter record uponthe creation of the statewide voter registration system or (ii) a replacementrecord provided by the State Board to replace damaged files in theregistrar's office. If no other record is available, then the registrar ofthe voter's former locality shall provide written notification to theregistrar of the locality in which the voter now resides that none of therequired documents are available. In this instance only, the registrar of thelocality in which the voter now resides shall copy the voter's record fromthe Virginia voter registration system and use that record in lieu of theoriginal voter registration application. Any complete voter registrationapplication on a form previously authorized for use in Virginia shall bevalid for the purposes of continuing or transferring a voter's registrationwithin the Commonwealth.
(Code 1950, § 24-85; 1970, c. 462, § 24.1-52; 1971, Ex. Sess., c. 247; 1977,c. 490; 1993, c. 641; 2000, c. 857; 2001, cc. 615, 625; 2002, c. 279; 2003,c. 1015.)