On Tuesday, Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed Executive Order 13, which is aimed at protecting election integrity in the Commonwealth.
The order directs the Commissioner of the Department of Elections to “certify each year that election security procedures are in place as it relates to ballot security, the testing and certification of vote counting machines ahead of each election in which the machines are used, and multi-level accuracy checks of results conducted by election officials.”
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“I know it feels like it is always election season in Virginia. With even more days of voting on our calendar this year, I’m acting early to strengthen Virginia’s transparent, robust voting process and protect the rights of all eligible Virginia voters. The actions Virginia is taking today are not only critical to allowing all eligible Virginia voters to register and cast their ballot, but to making sure that only Virginians who are eligible to vote are able to vote in our Commonwealth — this year, and in every election into the future.”
Gov. Abigail Spanberger
The order also says that any program used to remove the names of ineligible voters from voter registration systems “based on evidence of ineligibility“ must be done so no later than 90 days before any federal primary or general election. This comes as debate has occurred in the U.S. Senate for the SAVE America Act, which would impact millions of Americans’ ability to vote.
In 2025, then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order aimed at removing non-citizens from the Commonwealth’s voter rolls, a move that sparked debate and occurred only about a month and a half prior to the gubernatorial election.
The EO also requires the Virginia DMV to “certify that the agency shares information on a daily basis with the Department of Elections as it relates to new eligible voters, voters who have moved, updates to existing voter registrations, and ineligible voters. The order also requires the Department of Elections to certify that after receiving this information, the agency takes required list maintenance actions in compliance with state and federal law.”
Gov. Spanberger also began the process of rejoining the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, which is “a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with 26 member states that share voter registration and identification data to better keep accurate voter rolls.” Virginia was a founding state of the initiative in 2012 under then-Gov. Bob McDonnell. In 2023, Youngkin pulled Virginia out of the group.
You can read the entirety of Executive Order 13 here.