---
type: "Bill"
title: "Absentee ballots; expediting counting of absentee ballots returned by mail prior to election day."
description: "Absentee ballots; expediting counting of absentee ballots returned by mail prior to election day."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 960"
citation: "Virginia SB 960 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lionell Spruill, Sr."]
version_count: 3
action_count: 18
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2017-01-02"
last_action: "2017-03-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/079633b2-d70d-4c82-9a7f-84d862f9c766"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB960"
source_hash: "27e7c80121e28557477cfe433b23f5f65a0dac0173cacced1bfc6f52dda60a8c"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia SB 960 (2017) — Absentee ballots; expediting counting of absentee ballots returned by mail prior to election day.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0275)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0275)
2. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB960ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB960ER)
3. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103086D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB960)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed Senate — **38–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **7–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House — **99–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Privileges and Elections — **9–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Privileges and Elections — **19–1** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Lionell Spruill, Sr. — primary (person)
- Roslyn C. Tyler — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-02** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103086D `introduction`
- **2017-01-02** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-20** Passed by for the day
- **2017-01-23** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-01-31** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-01-31** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-01-31** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-31** Assigned P & E sub: Elections `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-13** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-14** Passed by for the day
- **2017-02-15** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-15** Passed House (99-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-17** Enrolled
- **2017-02-17** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-20** Signed by President
- **2017-02-21** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on 2/21/17
- **2017-02-21** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-03** Approved by Governor-Chapter 275 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/079633b2-d70d-4c82-9a7f-84d862f9c766`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).