EPEC NEWS

EPEC TEAM NEWS RELEASE:

Electoral Boards and General Registrars managed over 123,000 SDR provisional ballots during the 2024 election, call for changes to ensure only eligible ballots are counted

February 10, 2025 — Electoral Board Members and General Registrars across Virginia say Same Day Registration (SDR) must be reformed or ended from its current state to ensure accurate counts of Commonwealth elections, according to a survey by Electoral Process Education Corporation (EPEC), a 501 (c) (3) charity focused on voter participation and election technology.

More than 123,000 SDR provisional ballots (85,000 on Election Day) were cast in the 2024 election, a 4000% increase over 2022.

All of the survey respondents made several points very clear: 1) SDRs are disruptive and created a huge increase in provisional ballots to adjudicate before the deadline to certify the election; 2) guidance was not clear; 3) election statutes governing SDR were not applied consistently; 4) additional staff are needed to comply with Virginia electoral statutes.

Nearly half of the recommendations advised eliminating SDRs altogether and returning to pre-election registration deadlines after respondents with larger volumes reported more difficulties.

EPEC Team conducted the post-election anonymous surveys of General Registrars and Electoral Board members. About 17% of 133 General Registrars responded, and about 10% of Electoral Board members participated. The questions asked about satisfaction with SDR processes, locality size, and years of experience.

Respondents said they were not able to verify the eligibility of every SDR voter. Some eligible SDR ballots may have been canceled because they voted in the wrong precinct or their identity could not be verified in time. Discrepancies in voter ID requirements, especially for first-time voters, led to chaos, as can be seen in the full survey results and over 900 pages of complaints.

According to formal complaints filed with Virginia Department of Elections, some election officers may have violated election statutes on residency requirements in the rush to handle thousands of same-day registration applications.

The sentiments align with Commissioner of Elections Susan Beals’ annual survey that queried General Registrars. She reported to the legislature that over 60% of respondents called for improvements with SDR after they experienced issues during the 2024 election.

The EPEC survey asked: If you could do one thing to address SDR problems in localities during the 2024 election, what would it be. The response from many was to end or limit SDR in Virginia, which offers 45 days of Early Voting before Election Day, among the longest periods of early voting in the United States.

EPEC Survey Coordinator Bob Treacy said the results show a disparity across Virginia regarding SDR’s impact and lack of uniformity with residency rules.

“There needs to be a lot of discussion of the pros and cons of loosening rules on registration constraints,” Treacy said. “At what point does the convenience of SDR negate the protection of a trusted, uniform, cost-effective electoral process? Across the board, the survey shows SDR was seen as a major SNAFU.”

Full results of the SDR survey of General Registrars can be seen here.

Full Results of the SDR survey of Electoral Boards can be seen here.

About EPEC:
Electoral Process Education Corporation is a Virginia-based, non-profit, 501(c) (3) educational charity that promotes public awareness of election systems to build trust and participation. To download a PDF version of this press release, click here.