When the seat of power in Virginia was held by the Democrats four years ago, their primary emphasis seemed to be on expanding voting eligibility. The myriad of modifications to the state’s electoral system appears vast, but the implications might deviate from some popular predictions. The good news for the inhabitants of Virginia, as affirmed by Governor Glenn Youngkin recently, is that the integrity of their voting process remains high. He further reassured voters about the fairness of the electoral system for the impending Presidential race of 2024.
Interestingly, these affirmations are made post the drastic changes democrats introduced in the ballot access during 2020 and 2021. Simplified voter ID laws, absence of rationale for absentee voting, convenience of mailed ballots, extensions of early voting window for 45 days, and participation of overseas Virginians in primary elections account as a part of these changes that transpired in these years.
The surging wave of expanding voting access in the recent years has been politically charged, alleging it as favoring Democratic candidates. However, contrary to the usual narrative, Republicans, including Youngkin, emerged victorious in 2021 following the implementation of these changes.
According to Charles Stewart from MIT’s Elections Lab, the expansion of early voting does not seem to particularly favor one party over the other. He suggests that it only makes the process easier. Stewart also commented that for a majority of the populace, interacting with political activities is seen as a challenging task due to their busy lives.
A close examination of the Presidential elections turnout data confirms the minimal change pre and post the implementation of these new regulations. Comparing the years before (2016) and after the changes were enforced (2020), the turnout experienced just a meager 3% increase. Furthermore, the recent midterms witnessed a decline in the voter turnout.
The 2018 midterm elections under then-President Donald Trump brought about a 60% turnout, whereas President Joe Biden’s 2022 midterms only managed to draw an audience closer to 50%. Every decade since 1993, Virginia has added almost a million new voters on an average, with minimal distinction between the years following the democratic enacted expansion.
The practice of Mail-in absentee voting has now become increasingly prevalent. Even though the Virginia Public Access Project initially associated a Democratic lean to this practice, the lean has faded in recent years. In 2023, some Republican dominated districts witnessed as many new mail-in applications as in the Democratic-leaning districts. Stewart believes that a well-contested election is key to increased turnout.
Even though the voting process did become more convenient, it came tied with a hefty price tag. Norfolk registrar Stephanie Isles mentioned the burdensome tasks this entailed such as staffing satellite locations, additional trainings, and extended working hours. Under the new system, the election cycle now runs longer and proves to be more costly.
Government funding towards elections has experienced a surge from roughly $12 million a year in 2018 to $22 million in 2025. However, within the same time frame, the entire state’s budget escalated by approximately $30 billion. This funding majorly addresses the election infrastructure and federal elections, while Virginia carries out elections every year.
Delegate Phillip Scott proposed a bill in 2022 that aimed to reduce the early voting period to 14 days from 45 days. Scott witnessed an average of around 100 votes per day during the early voting period in his 2021 election, though the number spiked to nearly a thousand votes a day towards the end. Scott pointed out the unnecessary stress to the resources caused due to such an extended early voting period without receiving adequate funds from the state.
Delegate Phillip Scott’s bill did not make it past the committee, and an effort to examine the financial repercussions of early voting was shut down earlier this year. Another noteworthy change related to voting, though comparatively low-profile, was helmed by Delegate Dan Helmer in 2021. It necessitated the inclusion of overseas Virginians (like those serving the military or studying abroad) in the primary elections.
This newly mandated policy complicated the utilization of closed primaries and upset several political candidates. Virginia’s Fifth District Congressman Bob Good, who successfully defeated incumbent Denver Riggleman in a closed primary in 2020, lost the Republican nomination to State Senator John McGuire owing to the newly instated law change.
Interestingly, open primaries in Virginia do not demand any party affiliation for voting, making rumors of opponents flipping sides to oppose a candidate a commonplace occurrence. After his defeat, Good questioned via social media how democrats came to determine the precise number of crossover votes they needed. Without missing a beat, Helmer retorted that Good’s constant critiques of the democratic system largely contributed towards his loss than any other factors.
Governor Youngkin, in response to queries regarding his opinion of the democrats’ election law alterations, referred to the new measures he authorized through the state’s Department of Elections. This included replacing ERIC, or the Electronic Registration Information Center, with a new multi-state system catering to individuals ineligible for voting. Virginia saw over 6,300 non-citizens removed from the voting rolls post these changes since 2022.
In contrast, in 2021, around 1,300 non-citizens were eliminated and over 800 in 2020. Unfortunately, Youngkin’s plan to clean up the voter rolls last year led to erroneously removing over 3,400 voters. His office, however, refrained from commenting on the measures taken to prevent such mistakes in future.