Bill > HB967

Introduced Session

Elections; Voting Rights Act of Virginia. Revises provisions of the Voting Rights Act of Virginia (the Act) by (i) clarifying the legal standards for evaluating claims of alleged voter suppression and vote dilution, (ii) providing guidance to the courts to follow when determining whether a violation of the prohibition against voter suppression or vote dilution has occurred, and (iii) outlining the factors that the courts are permitted to consider and those factors that the courts are prohibiting from considering. The bill expands the class of persons who may initiate a cause of action for an alleged violation of the Act, to include organizations whose membership includes members of a protected class, organizations whose mission would be frustrated by a violation of the Act, and organizations that would expend resources in order to fulfill its mission as a result of a violation of the Act. The population thresholds for a locality to be designated as a covered locality for purposes of minority language accessibility pursuant to the Act are also amended. Current law designates a locality as a covered locality if, in the locality, (a) more than five percent of the voting age population or (b) more than 10,000 of the voting age population are members of a single language minority and are unable to speak or understand English adequately enough to participate in the electoral process; the bill reduces those thresholds from five to three percent and from 10,000 to 5,000. The bill contains technical amendments for organizational purposes.

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Marcia Price (D)*,  Kimberly Adams (D),  Lashrecse Aird (D),  Bonita Anthony (D),  Kacey Carnegie (D),  Betsy Carr (D),  Nadarius Clark (D),  Joshua Cole (D),  Nicole Cole (D),  Kelly Convirs-Fowler (D),  Rae Cousins (D),  Margaret Franklin (D),  Debra Gardner (D),  Jackie Glass (D),  Elizabeth Guzmán (D),  Dan Helmer (D),  J.R. Henson (D),  Patrick Hope (D),  Karen Keys-Gamarra (D),  Destiny LeVere Bolling (D),  Michelle Lopes-Maldonado (D),  Fernando Martinez (D),  May Nivar (D),  Sam Rasoul (D),  Saddam Salim (D),  Charlie Schmidt (D),  Irene Shin (D),  Kannan Srinivasan (D),  Kathy Tran (D),  Rodney Willett (D), 

Privileges and Elections Amendment - Privileges and Elections Amendment (on 02/25/2026)

Official Document