republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/sb-1254.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Voting machines; Department of Elections shall coordinate post-election risk-limiting audit, report."
description: "Requires the Department of Elections to coordinate a post-election risk-limiting audit annually of ballot scanner machines in use in the Commonwealth. The localities selected for the audit are to be chosen at random with every locality participating in the Department's annual audit at least once during a five-year period. The audits are required to be conducted by the local electoral boards and general registrars in accordance with procedures prescribed by the Department. The local electoral boards report the results of the audit to the Department and the Department shall submit a report on the audits to the State Board of Elections. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2018."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 1254"
citation: "Virginia SB 1254 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections", "Study Commissions", "Committees and Reports"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mark D. Obenshain"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 25
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2017-01-10"
last_action: "2017-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/617330b3-96ac-41af-8bca-8b624d8e24a8"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB1254"
source_hash: "618dbb2f3e697aec9aa480e0f53b38d42bcd96990b027a009140f080f543d333"
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 1254 (2017) — Voting machines; Department of Elections shall coordinate post-election risk-limiting audit, report.

Requires the Department of Elections to coordinate a post-election risk-limiting audit annually of ballot scanner machines in use in the Commonwealth. The localities selected for the audit are to be chosen at random with every locality participating in the Department's annual audit at least once during a five-year period. The audits are required to be conducted by the local electoral boards and general registrars in accordance with procedures prescribed by the Department. The local electoral boards report the results of the audit to the Department and the Department shall submit a report on the audits to the State Board of Elections. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2018.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0367)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0367)
2. **House: Committee substitute printed 17105383D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1254H1)
3. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1254ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1254ER)
4. **Senate: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103101D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1254)
5. **Senate: Printed as engrossed 17103101D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1254E)

## Votes

- Read third time and passed Senate — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House with substitute with amendment — **98–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute — **19–1** (pass) · legislature
- House substitute with amendment agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Privileges and Elections with amendments — **10–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments — **7–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Mark D. Obenshain — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17103101D `introduction`
- **2017-01-10** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-20** Passed by for the day
- **2017-01-23** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-01-23** Reading of amendments waived
- **2017-01-23** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2017-01-23** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB1254E
- **2017-01-23** Printed as engrossed 17103101D-E
- **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: Campaigns `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-13** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-14** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-14** Committee substitute agreed to 17105383D-H1
- **2017-02-14** Amendment by Delegate Cole agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2017-02-14** Engrossed by House - committee substitute with amendment SB1254H1
- **2017-02-14** Passed House with substitute with amendment (98-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-16** Title replaced 17105383D-S1
- **2017-02-20** Enrolled
- **2017-02-20** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-21** 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
- **2017-03-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 367 (effective 7/1/18) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/617330b3-96ac-41af-8bca-8b624d8e24a8`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).