Virginia HB 630: Elections; ranked choice voting, locally elected offices, report.

Bill Text

2026 SESSION

INTRODUCED

26105115D

HOUSE BILL NO. 630

Offered January 14, 2026

Prefiled January 13, 2026

A BILL to amend and reenact § 24.2-673.1 of the Code of Virginia and to repeal the fourth enactment of Chapter 1054 of the Acts of Assembly of 2020, relating to elections; conduct of election; ranked choice voting; locally elected offices; report.

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Patrons—Callsen, Hope, McClure, Anderson, Anthony, Bennett-Parker, Clark, Cohen, Cole, J.G., Cousins, Dougherty, Downey, Glass, Henson, Hernandez, Martinez, McAuliff, Rasoul, Shin, Simonds, Singh and Tran

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Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections

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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 24.2-673.1 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 24.2-673.1. (Expires July 1, 2031) Ranked choice voting.

A. For purposes of this section:

"Ranked choice voting" means a method of casting and tabulating votes in which (i) voters rank candidates in order of preference, (ii) tabulation proceeds in rounds such that in each of round either a candidate or candidates are elected or the last-place candidate is defeated, (iii) votes for voters' next-ranked candidates are transferred from elected or defeated candidates, and (iv) tabulation ends when the number of candidates elected equals the number of offices to be filled. "Ranked choice voting" is known as "instant runoff voting" when electing a single office and "single transferable vote" when electing multiple offices.

"Ranking" means the ordinal number assigned on a ballot by a voter to a candidate to express the voter's preference for that candidate. Ranking number one The first ranking is the highest ranking, the second ranking number two is the next-highest ranking, and so on, consecutively, up to the number of candidates indicated by the voter on the ballot.

B. Elections of members of a county board of supervisors or a city council local governing body may be conducted by ranked choice voting pursuant to this section. The decision to conduct an election by ranked choice voting shall be made, in consultation with the local electoral board and general registrar, by a majority vote of the board of supervisors or city council local governing body that the office being elected serves. Any decision to conduct an election by ranked choice voting made by a local governing body shall be transmitted to the State Board, which shall provide an assessment of technical feasibility within 10 days of receipt of the decision. If the State Board assesses that implementation of the local governing body's decision is not technically feasible, the State Board's assessment shall include an explanation of those steps necessary to proceed with implementation.

If a majority of the members of a town council vote to conduct an election for town council by ranked choice voting, the board of supervisors of the county in which the town is located may require the town to reimburse the county for costs associated with conducting the election by ranked choice voting that would not have been incurred by the county absent the town council's decision to conduct the election by ranked choice voting.

C. The State Board shall provide standards for vote tabulating software for use with existing voting systems in elections conducted by ranked choice voting. Any person manufacturing, owning, or offering for sale any vote tabulation software designed to be used with existing voting systems may apply to the State Board, in the manner prescribed by the State Board, to have examined a production version of such software. A local governing body that makes the decision to conduct elections by ranked choice voting shall provide for the use of vote tabulating software approved by the State Board in any such elections.

D. The State Board may shall promulgate regulations for the proper and efficient administration of elections determined by ranked choice voting, including (i) procedures for tabulating and reporting votes in rounds, (ii) procedures for determining winners in elections for offices to which only one candidate is being elected and to which more than one candidate is being elected, and (iii) standards for ballots pursuant to § 24.2-613, notwithstanding the provisions of subsection E of that section.

D. E. If, in the process of tabulating final results for an election conducted by ranked choice voting, any machine readable ballot is damaged or defective so that it cannot properly be counted by the electronic voting systems, a true duplicate copy shall be made of the damaged ballot by a team of election officials representing both parties. The duplicate ballot shall be substituted for the damaged ballot. Every duplicate ballot shall be clearly labeled as such and shall bear an identifier that shall be recorded on the damaged ballot. 

F. The State Board may administer or prescribe standards for a voter outreach and public information program for use by any locality conducting ran