In Virginia, a utility bill is a valid voter ID -it is also completely unnecessary. This appears to be news to Delegate Srinivasan (D) who sits on the House Subcommittee on Elections. House Bill 393 was introduced by Delegate Griffin (R) during the recent January 22, 2024 Virginia House Subcommittee on Elections Administration. It would have prevented people who did not present an ID when checking in to vote from casting live ballots. Delegate Srinivasan rebuked the bill as unnecessary lawmaking, stating “Just because I walked in with a utility bill….and they took my ballot, that does not make it a valid ID”. He went on to declare that a voter who presented a utility bill would only be allowed to vote provisionally and be required by Virginia law to return and cure their ballot with a “real” ID. There is just one problem with Delegate Srinivasan’s claim: It is blatantly false.
It seems that Delegate Srinivasan has not kept up with Virginia election law or his own party’s agenda. According to Virginia law passed in 2020 by the all-Democratic legislature, a current utility bill is a “real” ID for use when voting. If the utility bill matches the information on the poll books, the voter will be given a ballot. A voter is not required to return with a photo ID. Requirements no longer exist in Virginia law to provide any ID, much less a photo ID, to vote.
In Virginia, if the voter can either verbally state (or provide in written format) their name and address as it appears on the poll books, they are allowed to vote. No ID? No problem. If the voter does not have any ID, that voter is allowed to simply sign an ID Confirmation Statement that they are who they say they are. If they sign this statement, they are given a live ballot to cast on the ballot scanning machines. If a voter refuses to sign an affirmation statement, they will still be allowed to vote a provisional ballot in Virginia.
Election integrity suffers when ideology and ignorance cross paths. The push for open borders, the devaluation of U.S. citizenship and attacks on Voter ID have been aggressively pursued under the cloak of “voter suppression.” That Del Srinivasan, a Democrat legislator on the Privileges and Elections committee, fell victim to the Voter ID deception is a warning to us all – common sense has no part in this attack on American citizenship and the dismantling of voter integrity. Nowhere in the process, from registration to casting a ballot, are Virginian’s required to prove they are citizens prior to voting – meaningful checks and balances on voter qualifications do not exist in Virginia.
Legislators sitting on committees where they are ill-informed of the processes and laws currently in effect pose a danger to the Commonwealth of Virgina and everyone who resides within. As for House Bill 393, it was defeated along a party line vote – Virginia remains a place where voter IDs are optional.
Sharon
It is so ridiculous that ID’s aren’t required. But then again, this state handed out driver’s licenses to the 911 attackers.