If you feel that your right to vote has veen violated in any way, please call the Election Protection lawyers hotline at 1-866-OUR-VOTE. This call is free (People for American Way, November 5, 2002):

1. On Election Day, each polling place opens at 6:00 a.m. and closes at 7:00 p.m. If you are in line at your polling place when it closes at 7:00 p.m., you have the right to vote in the election.(1)

2. Before allowing you to vote, an election official will ask for your name, address, and a form of identification (e.g. voter registration card, social security card, Virginia driver’s license or other government-issued i.d.). If you are a qualified and registered voter but you do not have identification, you have the right to vote after signing a statement verifying that you are, in fact, who you claim to be.(2)

3. If you have moved from one precinct to another precinct in Virginia and your registration remains valid, you have the right to vote in your original precinct.(3)

4. If you have moved from one precinct to another precinct in Virginia, your registrar and congressional district have not changed, and your registration remains valid, you have the right to continue voting in your original precinct for approximately 4 years after your move.(4)

5. If you are a qualified voter but your name does not appear on the list of voters registered in your precinct, you have the right to vote:

a. If an election official verifies with the general registrar that you are a registered voter and that your name was mistakenly omitted from the list of registered voters, you have the right to vote using the same voting mechanism as all other voters registered in the precinct.
b. If an election official cannot verify with the general registrar that you are a registered voter, you have the right to cast a conditional paper ballot. On the day after the election, an election board will meet and decide whether your vote should be counted.(5)

6. If you unintentionally or accidentally deface or make a mistake on your paper ballot while voting, you have the right to return the “spoiled” ballot to an election official and receive another ballot.(6)

7. If you are 65 or older or are physically disabled, you have the right to vote by paper ballot outside of your polling place within 150 feet of the entrance to the building. You will mark the ballot in an election official’s presence (but in secret) and will return it to the official, who will immediately deposit it in the ballot box inside the polling place.(7)

8. If you are physically disabled or cannot read or write, you have the right to be assisted with voting. If you are blind, you may choose an election official or any other person to assist you. If you are unable to read or write or you have a disability other than blindness, you may choose an election official or any person other than your employer, your employer’s agent, or an officer or agent of your union to assist you. You have the right to this assistance without the person assisting you trying to influence your vote or revealing to others how you voted.(8)

9. If your name has been placed on an inactive voter list (because your registrar believes that you have moved to a different city or county from where you are registered), you have the right to have your name put back on the active voter list by voting in an election and updating your voter registration information within approximately 4 years of your move.(9)

10. When you are within 40 feet of a polling place, you have the right to vote or wait to vote without anyone electioneering or otherwise attempting to influence your vote.(10)

11. You have the right to bring your child or children (if 15 years or younger) into the voting booth with you.(11)

12. You have the right to take this bill of rights into the voting booth with you.

Note: References for Virginia Voters” prepared by the Virginia Board of Elections:

1 Code of Virginia, Sec. 24.2-603.
2 Sec. 24.2-643B.
3 Sec. 24.2-401.
4 Sec. 24.2-401.
5 Sec. 24.2-653A-B.
6 Sec. 24.2-645.
7 Sec. 24.2-649A.
8 Sec. 24.2-649B.
9 Sec. 24.2-428.2(3).
10 Sec. 24.2-604D.
11 Sec. 24.2-643B.