Judge rules Virginia's late election law changes for mail-in ballots were illegal

A Virginia Circuit Court judge ruled that the state’s last-minute changes to election law allowing mail-in ballots to arrive late without a postmark were illegal.

"This is a big win for the Rule of Law," said Public Interest Legal Foundation President J. Christian Adams, who represented Frederick County electoral board member Thomas Reed in the case. "This consent decree gives Mr. Reed everything he requested — a permanent ban on accepting ballots without postmarks after Election Day and is a loss for the Virginia bureaucrats who said ballots could come in without these protections."

The case was over a Virginia Board of Elections rule issued in August that allowed mail-in ballots without a postmark to be received up to three days after the November election.

The new Virginia Board of Elections rule notified county election boards that any ballots "received by the general registrar's office by noon on the third day after the election ... but does not have a postmark, or the postmark is missi... (Read more)

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