HB 972 VA

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Voter registration; list maintenance activities, cancellation procedures, required record matches. Requires certain, specified identification information to be included on the lists received by the Department of Elections (the Department) for list maintenance purposes and requires the Department, upon receiving any such list, to do an initial comparison of the information included on such list with the list of registered voters and to determine the confidence score for any match. The Department is required to transmit matches with a confidence score of at least 80 to the appropriate general registrars. The bill prohibits the use of voter data received from another state or jurisdiction or through a list comparison for list maintenance purposes when the data file does not include a unique identifier for each individual whose information is contained in the data file. The bill requires the Department to annually review all sources of data utilized for list maintenance activities for the purpose of determining the validity, completeness, accuracy, and reliability of the data received from each source, and to include the results of such review in its annual report to the House and Senate Committees on Privileges and Elections regarding its list maintenance activities. The bill provides that the Department of Elections may only use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program (SAVE Program) operated by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for the sole purpose of individually verifying that voters listed in the Virginia voter registration system are United States citizens. The Department of Elections is prohibited from (i) using information received from the SAVE Program as the sole reason for rejecting a registration application, (ii) uploading lists of registered voters to the SAVE Program for verifying their citizenship status in bulk, or (iii) transferring any information to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or any subdivision thereof beyond the minimum information necessary. The bill requires the general registrars to send notice prior to cancelling a voter's registration regardless of the reason for cancellation. Lastly, the bill clarifies that when a voter's registration is cancelled, a cancellation record must be created, and that such records are public in accordance with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and the National Voter Registration Act. The bill includes numerous technical amendments for organizational purposes. Certain provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027. This bill incorporates HB 966.

• Marcia S. "Cia" Price Democratic · primary

1. Jan 13, 2026 Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26101433D · lower
2. Jan 13, 2026 Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections · lower
3. Feb 6, 2026 Assigned HPE sub: Election Administration · lower
4. Feb 9, 2026 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB972) · lower
5. Feb 9, 2026 Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (6-Y 2-N) · lower
6. Feb 10, 2026 House subcommittee offered · lower
7. Feb 12, 2026 House committee offered · lower
8. Feb 13, 2026 Incorporates HB966 (Price) · lower
9. Feb 13, 2026 Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (14-Y 7-N) · lower
10. Feb 13, 2026 Committee substitute printed 26107629D-H1 · lower
11. Feb 15, 2026 Read first time · lower
12. Feb 16, 2026 Read second time · lower
13. Feb 16, 2026 committee substitute agreed to · lower
14. Feb 16, 2026 Engrossed by House - committee substitute · lower
15. Feb 17, 2026 Read third time and passed House (62-Y 35-N 0-A) · lower
16. Feb 18, 2026 Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) · upper
17. Feb 18, 2026 Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections · upper
18. Mar 3, 2026 Senate committee offered · upper
19. Mar 3, 2026 Reported from Privileges and Elections with amendments and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (8-Y 7-N) · upper
20. Mar 6, 2026 Reported from Finance and Appropriations (10-Y 5-N) · upper
21. Mar 9, 2026 Rules suspended · upper
22. Mar 9, 2026 Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A) · upper
23. Mar 9, 2026 Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote) · upper
24. Mar 10, 2026 Read third time · upper
25. Mar 10, 2026 Privileges and Elections Amendments agreed to · upper
26. Mar 10, 2026 Engrossed by Senate as amended · upper
27. Mar 10, 2026 Passed Senate with amendments (21-Y 19-N 0-A) · upper
28. Mar 11, 2026 Senate amendments agreed to by House (64-Y 34-N 0-A) · lower
29. Mar 30, 2026 Enrolled · lower
30. Mar 30, 2026 Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB972ER) · lower
31. Mar 30, 2026 Signed by President · upper
32. Mar 31, 2026 Signed by Speaker · lower
33. Mar 31, 2026 Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 31, 2026 · lower
34. Mar 31, 2026 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 · executive
35. Apr 6, 2026 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB972) · lower
36. Apr 11, 2026 Governor's recommendation received by House · executive

The published texts of this bill as it moves through the legislature. Each links to the official document on the state legislature site. Data from OpenStates.

• Governor Substitute · PDF
• Governor Substitute · HTML
• Governor's Recommendation · HTML
• Enrolled · PDF
• Enrolled · HTML
• Senate Amendments · HTML
• Privileges and Elections Amendment · HTML
• Privileges and Elections Amendment · HTML
• Privileges and Elections Substitute · PDF
• Privileges and Elections Substitute · HTML
• Privileges and Elections Substitute · PDF
• Privileges and Elections Substitute · HTML
• Election Administration Subcommittee Substitute · PDF
• Election Administration Subcommittee Substitute · HTML
• Introduced · PDF
• Introduced · HTML