RICHMOND, Va. — Early voting starts Friday across the Commonwealth. The biggest change some localities will see is the newly approved "ballot on demand" system.
This change comes as new Virginia law requires registrars to report their absentee results by precinct, which increased the number of ballot styles for each locality.
"We had eight ballot styles for the 2021 November election last year, now we have 72 because 72 is the number of precincts that we have, so we now have a ballot for each precinct," said Richmond Registrar Keith Balmer.
Ballots will be printed in front of voters based on their precinct. The paper ballot will then be entered into an Express Vote Machine, where voters will make their selections digitally.
After selections have been made, the paper ballot is returned to the voter, who will then need to drop it off at the traditional ballot counter.
The idea behind the new system is to make voting faster and more accurate.
“Officers will be there to walk each voter through the process, because even though it’s pretty easy to use, it’s also new, so to make sure our voters aren’t confused," Balmer said.
Balmer said smaller localities will likely not use the new system, but places like Richmond, Chesterfield County and Henrico will be utilizing the new system.
"Officers will be there to walk each voter through the process, because even though it’s pretty easy to use, it’s also new, so to make sure our voters aren’t confused," he said.
In Richmond, voting is available from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Voting will also be available Saturday, Oct. 29 and Nov. 5 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will also be an opportunity to vote Sunday, Oct. 30 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 17. The deadline to request an absentee ballot with the correct prepaid postage stamp on it will be Friday, Oct. 28.
You can find your polling place here.
