republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/sb-1467.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Central absentee voter precincts; expedited counting of absentee ballots."
description: "Allows the officers of election at a central absentee voter precinct to begin tallying the absentee ballots that are counted by hand at any time after 3:00 p.m. on the day of the election. Currently, absentee ballots may be processed at the central absentee voter precinct prior to the closing of the polls but shall not be counted until after the polls have closed. The bill prohibits any counts of tallies to be determined or transmitted outside of the central absentee voter precinct until after the closing of the polls. It also prohibits the use of cell phones and other communication devices during such tallying and until the close of polls. Any persons present in the central absentee voter precinct during this time is required to sign a statement under oath that he will not transmit any counts prior to the closing of the polls. Any person who transmits any counts in violation of the provisions of the bill is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 1467"
citation: "Virginia SB 1467 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["David W. Marsden"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 23
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2017-01-16"
last_action: "2017-03-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a295cbb8-4a72-4081-8b48-795713ad00fa"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB1467"
source_hash: "39c16f3d999ec479370af27b47501c1f1bea1c6f82217046e699ada9de52d55b"
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 1467 (2017) — Central absentee voter precincts; expedited counting of absentee ballots.

Allows the officers of election at a central absentee voter precinct to begin tallying the absentee ballots that are counted by hand at any time after 3:00 p.m. on the day of the election. Currently, absentee ballots may be processed at the central absentee voter precinct prior to the closing of the polls but shall not be counted until after the polls have closed. The bill prohibits any counts of tallies to be determined or transmitted outside of the central absentee voter precinct until after the closing of the polls. It also prohibits the use of cell phones and other communication devices during such tallying and until the close of polls. Any persons present in the central absentee voter precinct during this time is required to sign a statement under oath that he will not transmit any counts prior to the closing of the polls. Any person who transmits any counts in violation of the provisions of the bill is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0711)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0711)
2. **House: Committee substitute printed 17105257D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1467H1)
3. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1467ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1467ER)
4. **Senate: Committee substitute printed 17104748D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1467S1)
5. **Senate: Presented and ordered printed 17103917D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1467)

## Votes

- Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute — **14–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- House substitute agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House with substitute BLOCK VOTE — **98–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **7–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- David W. Marsden — primary (person)
- Barbara A. Favola (incorporated chief co-patron) — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-16** Presented and ordered printed 17103917D `introduction`
- **2017-01-16** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-25** Incorporates SB1503 (Favola)
- **2017-01-27** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-01-27** Reading of substitute waived
- **2017-01-27** Committee substitute agreed to 17104748D-S1
- **2017-01-27** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1467S1
- **2017-02-02** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-02** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-02** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-02** Assigned P & E sub: Elections `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-20** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-21** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-21** Committee substitute agreed to 17105257D-H1
- **2017-02-21** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB1467H1
- **2017-02-21** Passed House with substitute BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-22** Title replaced 17105257D-H1
- **2017-03-07** Enrolled
- **2017-03-07** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-03-10** Signed by President
- **2017-03-13** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on 3/13/17
- **2017-03-13** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-24** Approved by Governor-Chapter 711 (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/a295cbb8-4a72-4081-8b48-795713ad00fa`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).