• Official State Website
• Secretary of State Website
• Absentee Voting Rules Webpage

Summary

To be eligible to register to vote in Virginia a person must:

• Be a resident of Virginia (A person who has come to Virginia for temporarypurposes and intends to returnto another state is not considered a resident for voting purposes)

• Be a U. S. Citizen

• Be 18 years old (Any person who is 17 years old and will be eighteen years of ageat the next general electionshall be permitted to register in advance and also vote inany intervening primary orspecial election)
• Does not claim the right to vote in any other State
• Not currently declared mentally incompetent by a court of law
• If convicted of a felony, your right to vote must have been restored

Persons eligible to register can obtain a registration application at anyof the following locations:

• Local voter registration office
• Online
• State or local government offices when applying or recertifying for Aidto DependentChildren, Food Stamps, WIC, Medicaid, or Rehabilitation Services
• Government offices in the State that provide State-funded programsprimarily engaged in providing services to person with disabilities
• Armed forces recruitment offices
• Public libraries
• State Board of Elections office
• Department of Motor Vehicles offices
• Voter Registration Drives

Who Can Vote Absentee?
Virginia law requires a reason to vote absentee. Valid reasons for voting absentee are:

• Students at institutions of higher learning, and their spouses
• Absent for business purposes
• Absent for personal business or vacation
• Scheduled to work at one's workplace at least 11 of the 13 hours the polls are open (includes commuting)
• Unable to get to the polls because of disability or illness (includes pregnancy)
• Caretakers of confined family members
• Awaiting trial and under confinement
• Serving time for misdemeanor convictions
• Religious conflicts
• Active duty uniformed services or merchant marine personnel and their dependents
• Regularly employed outside the U.S. and dependents
• Living abroad indefinitely (may be eligible to vote only for federal offices)
• Registrars, electoral board members, or officers of election scheduled to work the election

Deadlines

• Deadline to register to vote in November 2008 election: October 6, 2008
• Deadline to register for absentee ballot in November 2008 election: October 28, 2008

Voting Equipment

There are several types of equipment approved for use in the commonwealth of Virigina: Click here to view an updated list of voting systems used in Virginia as of January 3, 2008.

Under the Code of Virginia, the State Board of Elections must approve any mechanical or electronic voting system or equipment before it can be used by any locality.Each system must successfully complete three distinct levels of testing:

• Qualification testing (testing of hardware and software that may be conducted by Independent Testing Authority);
• Certification testing (to ensure it meets all applicable requirements of the Code of Virginia); and,
• Acceptance testing (conducted by the locality to assure it meets their needs and is identical to the certified system).