State elections board OKs voter-residency changes

The Virginia State Board of Elections has approved new voter-residency rules that will allow college students to register at their campus addresses and clarify criteria for determining a voter's eligibility to register in a particular locality.

The unanimous vote by the three-member board Saturday capped a painstaking process that began in the spring, shortly after the General Assembly passed legislation requiring the board to develop uniform regulations for determining a voter's residence.

The legislation was prompted in part by inconsistent treatment of Virginia college students who tried to register for last year's presidential election using their campus addresses.

The U.S. Department of Justice must approve the regulations before the state can formally implement them.

Nancy Rodrigues, secretary of the board of elections, said the federal approval may not come until October.

But the board's approval effectively provides guidance to local voter registrars who will handle applications from students in the fall. Registrars participated in a task force that developed the regulations for the elections board.

The new regulations include criteria for establishing domicile -- or intent to remain -- in a jurisdiction in which a voter is attempting to register.

But they also make allowances for "future contingencies" that could cause a person to leave that jurisdiction, which include job changes, graduation from school, military transfers and medical emergencies.

Some registrars had raised concerns that the regulations could be too open, allowing people to establish residency in a certain locality solely to manipulate the outcome of an election. To address those concerns, the board included a provision aimed at preventing voters from changing their residency status for the "primary purpose" of voting in a particular precinct.