Commonwealth Senate Bill #12-Voter Fraud Prevention

Commonwealth Senate Bill #12-Voter Fraud Prevention 

Peyton Fern - YMCA Arlington - Washington-Lee 

On the basis of Virginia Law, the laws on voter fraud can be found in §24.2-1004. “Illegal voting and registrations.” The section specifically states: “Any person who wrongfully deposits a ballot in the ballot container, casts a vote on any voting equipment...intentionally (i) votes more than once in the same election...intentionally (i) registers to vote at more than one residence address at the same time…” All of these offenses are either liable to a Class 1 misdemeanor-a jail sentence up to a year and a fine of up to $2500-or a Class 6 felony-a prison sentence from one to five years in prison or a sentence up to 12 months in jail, and a fine of up to $2,500.  

This law did not seem to be finished according to David McCurdy, a Senator from Faith Christian School who proposed Commonwealth Senate Bill 12 - a bill to “...amend and reenact §24.2-404 of the Code of Virginia, relating to Duties of Department of Elections.” 

 

In an interview with McCurdy, he made a point that although voter fraud is as not a pressing issue here than in other parts of the country, there are “...rises in different parts of the states…” and his bill is not acting to “correct massive injustice in Virginia, but it’s acting as preventative measures...for our voting process, which is a sacred process, [to be] further protected.”  

While the bill was being debated on the Commonwealth Senate floor, Aidan Sheahan, another Senator from Spotswood High School proposed an amendment of adding a follow-up punishment fine of $1500 for any individuals that are not qualified to vote but are still on the general registrar. When interviewed on his decision, Sheahan said that he wanted a “backup punishment enforced on voter fraud…” and he wanted “...Senator McCurdy’s bill to have a bite to it.” to make sure that the crime is not committed in “...future years.” The amendment was not passed to become part of the bill, for the sake of it being an unnecessary part of the punishment, since there are already misdemeanors and felonies placed in the current law, and yet the bill was passed, to give more security in the Commonwealth’s voters and to help prevent voter fraud as a growing issue in this country. 

References 

Va. Code § 24.2-1004.