RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – Executive Order 35 is a five-page directive designed to ensure the accuracy and security of Virginia’s upcoming elections.
This move codifies the use of paper ballots in state elections and ensures that non-citizens are excluded from voting.
“This is a big step for us. We have made great strides during our time in office to ensure clean voter rolls and make sure votes are counted correctly,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin.
State Senator Glen Sturtevant says there were actually over 6,000 non-citizens registered to vote in the state.
“So they’ve spent the last few years combing through and purging the voter rolls of people who are not American citizens and shouldn’t be voting in our elections but were able to register to vote in Virginia,” said Sturtevant, R-12th District.
But Democrats, including State Senator Schuyler VanValkenburg, say all of these election security mechanisms are already in place in the state.
They wonder if the recent upheaval is political in nature.
“Frankly, I read this order as more of a Republican national policy document rather than a government document,” said VanValkenburg, D-16th District.
The order also caught the attention of former President Donald Trump, who praised Youngkin for his efforts.
“Things get regulated when they are monitored, and that is exactly what this order does,” Sturtevant said.
Since 2017, when touchscreen voting machines were phased out, paper ballots have been used throughout the state.
In 2020, Democrats, who hold a majority in the state government, also made a number of changes to Virginia’s election laws, including allowing early voting without giving a reason.
“I think it’s an executive order that establishes what is already required by law,” VanValkenburg said.
VanValkenburg also criticized the governor’s decision to pull out of an interstate data-sharing agreement to combat voter fraud, a system commonly known as ERIC.
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