---
type: "Bill"
title: "Elections; form of ballot, ballot order."
description: "Requires that on any ballot all offices to be elected shall appear before any questions presented to the voters. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 2046"
citation: "Virginia HB 2046 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Joseph P. McNamara"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 15
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2019-01-07"
last_action: "2019-03-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/dce3a49c-0e13-494f-88a7-d5efb676560a"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB2046"
source_hash: "dc2344e0ae9665f6adcbe04c6e926be0a896bd9207937efe4f14505bee2d220a"
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 HB 2046 (2019) — Elections; form of ballot, ballot order.

Requires that on any ballot all offices to be elected shall appear before any questions presented to the voters. This bill is identical to

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0283)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0283)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2046ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2046ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19102880D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2046)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Privileges and Elections — **10–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Privileges and Elections — **22–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Joseph P. McNamara — primary (person)
- David R. Suetterlein — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19102880D `introduction`
- **2019-01-07** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-12** Assigned P & E sub: Subcommittee #3 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-29** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-01-30** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2019-01-31** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-01** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-02-01** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-15** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-20** Enrolled
- **2019-02-20** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-20** Signed by President
- **2019-02-27** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 27, 2019
- **2019-02-27** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 283 (effective 7/1/19) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/dce3a49c-0e13-494f-88a7-d5efb676560a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).