republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2024/sb-131.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Primary elections; candidates for nomination, withdrawal of candidacy."
description: "Primary elections; candidates for nomination; withdrawal of candidacy resulting in unopposed primary; primary cancellation and nomination procedure. Provides that if a person who is a candidate for nomination by a political party at a primary election and who appears on the ballot for such election withdraws his candidacy on or after the forty-fourth day before but prior to the Tuesday immediately preceding the primary election, and the result of such withdrawal is one remaining candidate who is now unopposed, the remaining candidate will be declared the party's nominee for the office sought and the primary election will be canceled. The bill requires the notice of withdrawal to be signed and notarized and to be submitted to the general registrar, who then transmits it to the local electoral board and the State Board of Elections along with a certification that the remaining candidate is now unopposed for nomination. The State Board is required to declare the remaining candidate to be the nominee within one calendar day of receiving such notice, and the local electoral board is then required to petition the circuit court for the cancellation of the primary election. Finally, the bill directs the State Board to prescribe procedures for canceling a primary election, including instructions for locking and securing voting systems, disposition of marked and unmarked absentee ballots, and voter notification. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2025. This bill is identical to HB 55."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "SB 131"
citation: "Virginia SB 131 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Frank M. Ruff-resigned 1/10"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 33
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2024-01-05"
last_action: "2024-03-31"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/345515b4-3265-494c-ba91-ca3ded34fcb6"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+SB131"
source_hash: "aa0310738224b6053a8de8c8be0af1c0f83eea85fb59f37d17adeeb3a1834e0b"
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 131 (2024) — Primary elections; candidates for nomination, withdrawal of candidacy.

Primary elections; candidates for nomination; withdrawal of candidacy resulting in unopposed primary; primary cancellation and nomination procedure. Provides that if a person who is a candidate for nomination by a political party at a primary election and who appears on the ballot for such election withdraws his candidacy on or after the forty-fourth day before but prior to the Tuesday immediately preceding the primary election, and the result of such withdrawal is one remaining candidate who is now unopposed, the remaining candidate will be declared the party's nominee for the office sought and the primary election will be canceled. The bill requires the notice of withdrawal to be signed and notarized and to be submitted to the general registrar, who then transmits it to the local electoral board and the State Board of Elections along with a certification that the remaining candidate is now unopposed for nomination. The State Board is required to declare the remaining candidate to be the nominee within one calendar day of receiving such notice, and the local electoral board is then required to petition the circuit court for the cancellation of the primary election. Finally, the bill directs the State Board to prescribe procedures for canceling a primary election, including instructions for locking and securing voting systems, disposition of marked and unmarked absentee ballots, and voter notification. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2025. This bill is identical to HB 55.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0230** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+CHAP0230)
2. **Committee substitute printed 24107833D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB131H1)
3. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24102245D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB131)
4. **SB131ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB131ER)

## Votes

- Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (21-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- House substitute agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Privileges and Elections (21-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (97-Y 1-N) — **96–1** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Privileges and Elections (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Frank M. Ruff-resigned 1/10 — primary (person)
- Tammy Brankley Mulchi — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-05** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24102245D `filing, introduction`
- **2024-01-05** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-11** Impact statement from DPB (SB131)
- **2024-01-23** Reported from Privileges and Elections (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-01-25** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2024-01-26** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2024-01-29** Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-02-13** Placed on Calendar
- **2024-02-13** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2024-02-13** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-16** Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-16** Committee substitute printed 24107833D-H1 `substitution`
- **2024-02-16** Impact statement from DPB (SB131H1)
- **2024-02-20** Motion to rerefer to committee agreed to `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-20** Rereferred to Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2024-03-01** Reported from Privileges and Elections (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-03-05** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-03-06** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2024-03-06** Committee substitute agreed to 24107833D-H1 `substitution`
- **2024-03-06** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB131H1 `substitution`
- **2024-03-06** Passed House with substitute (97-Y 1-N) `passage`
- **2024-03-06** VOTE: Passage (97-Y 1-N) `passage`
- **2024-03-07** House substitute agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N) `substitution`
- **2024-03-07** Title replaced 24107833D-H1
- **2024-03-25** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2024-03-25** Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB131ER) `passage`
- **2024-03-25** Signed by President `passage`
- **2024-03-26** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2024-03-27** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 27, 2024 `enrolled`
- **2024-03-27** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 8, 2024 `executive-receipt`
- **2024-03-28** Approved by Governor-Chapter 230 (effective 1/1/25) `executive-signature`
- **2024-03-28** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0230)
- **2024-03-31** Impact statement from DPB (SB131ER)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/345515b4-3265-494c-ba91-ca3ded34fcb6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).