Virginia Department of Elections

The Virginia Department of Elections (ELECT) is an agency that administers elections in Virginia. Its duties include maintaining a voter registration system, ensuring fair and secure elections, overseeing campaign finance disclosure, and certificating voter equipment in coordination with Virginia's 113 local election offices.^[1][2]

Virginia Department of Elections

State-level agency overview
Formed	2014
Preceding State-level agency	Virginia State Board of Elections
Jurisdiction	Commonwealth of Virginia
Headquarters	Richmond, Virginia
Employees	51-200
State-level agency executives	John O'Bannon, Chairman of the Board Rosalyn R. Dance, Vice-Chairman of the Board Georgia Alvis-Long, Secretary of the Board Donald W. Merricks, Board Member Matthew Weinstein, Board Member Susan Beals, Commissioner of the Board
Website	https://www.elections.virginia.gov/

History

The predecessor to ELECT, the Virginia State Board of Elections (SBE), was founded in 1946 as a nonpolitical agency to ensure fairness and accuracy in the commonwealth's elections. The SBE promoted proper administration of election laws and voter registration.^[3]

In 2014, this process was further expanded with the creation of ELECT. ELECT is responsible for the SBE's administrative and programmatic operations and discharges the board's duties consistent with delegated authority.^[3]

Leadership

The department is led by a five-member body, the State Board of Elections. A commissioner is in charge of supervising the board. The Department's current commissioner is Susan Beals. ELECT is made up of three business units that work with a regulatory board.^[2][4][5]

Role

State law provides that, "The State Board, through the Department of Elections, shall supervise and coordinate the work of the county and city electoral boards and of the registrars to obtain uniformity in their practices and proceedings and legality and purity in all elections."^[6]