Virginia voter-list report overdue; outcome of 998 referrals unclear

Virginia’s annual voter-registration list-maintenance report was listed as overdue on Oct. 10, nine days after its Oct. 1 deadline. Separately, VPM reported that the Department of Elections said it sent local registrars 998 entries concerning registrations it said should not have been denied or canceled. The entries may include duplicates, and their statewide outcomes are unclear.

The General Assembly’s tracker identifies the Department of Elections as responsible for the report. It must account for voter-registration list-maintenance activities and results during the 12 months ending Aug. 31, 2026, describe how the data were gathered and analyzed, and include the commissioner’s certification that the data are accurate and reliable. The tracker lists the report as overdue and gives no revised filing date.

The latest preceding annual report listed in the General Assembly’s published-report record covers Sept. 1, 2024, through Aug. 31, 2025. It addresses the prior reporting year, not the period ending Aug. 31, 2026.

998 entries are not a count of confirmed individuals

VPM reported Sept. 24 that the department sent the entries to local registrars under Virginia’s implementation of a federal court order. The department said the cases involved registrations that should not have been denied or canceled. Because the total may include duplicate entries, it is not a confirmed count of unique people. The statewide division between rejected applications and cancellations of existing registrations—and the final disposition of each entry—remains unclear.

VPM reported 37 entries in Richmond, 30 in Virginia Beach, 15 in Henrico County and five in Hanover County. Those locality figures are not a complete statewide breakdown or a record of final case outcomes.

In Hanover, Registrar Dave Nichols told Axios that all five cases involved rejected applications, not cancellations of existing registrations. None of the applicants had re-registered by the time Axios published its report on Oct. 6. VPM reported that letters were ready to send, but the county lacked phone numbers or email addresses to contact the people sooner. Nichols described state guidance as clear and timely.

Henrico Registrar Mark Coakley told Axios that his office could not determine how many local cases involved existing voters or whether anyone had tried to vote. He said someone whose registration was flagged could have cast a provisional ballot while officials investigated eligibility. Whether any affected eligible person missed Virginia’s Aug. 4 primary or encountered a problem during early voting is unclear.

State later narrowed its operational disqualification list

VPM reported that Virginia narrowed its operational list of felony convictions disqualifying non-incarcerated people from voting on Sept. 15. The list was reduced to three offenses: murder, voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter. That change does not establish the outcome of any individual entry referred to a registrar.

The overdue report is the required statewide account of list-maintenance activity and results for the year ending Aug. 31, 2026. The General Assembly tracker had not supplied a new filing date as of Oct. 10.