republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2019/hb-2790.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Absentee voting; no-excuse in-person, beginning on 2nd Sat. immediately preceding election."
description: "Allows for any registered voter to vote by absentee ballot in person beginning on the second Saturday immediately preceding any election in which he is qualified to vote without providing a reason or making prior application for an absentee ballot. The bill makes absentee voting in person available beginning on the forty-fifth day prior to the election and ending at 5:00 p.m. on the Saturday immediately preceding the election. The bill retains the current provisions for voting with an absentee ballot by mail or in person prior to the second Saturday immediately preceding the election, including the application requirement and the list of statutory reasons for absentee voting. The provisions of the bill do not become effective until the November 3, 2020, general election, and the State Board of Elections is required to submit a report on the procedures and instructions it promulgates for conducting absentee voting pursuant to the provisions of the bill. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 2790"
citation: "Virginia HB 2790 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections", "Study Commissions", "Committees and Reports"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Nick Rush"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 24
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2019-01-18"
last_action: "2019-03-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6d33a94a-d42f-424c-9bae-a01359746577"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB2790"
source_hash: "33d791fa3f8c9e3148670d0f8f89896bf0872ee8fd78e89d85a24749ad1b7562"
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 2790 (2019) — Absentee voting; no-excuse in-person, beginning on 2nd Sat. immediately preceding election.

Allows for any registered voter to vote by absentee ballot in person beginning on the second Saturday immediately preceding any election in which he is qualified to vote without providing a reason or making prior application for an absentee ballot. The bill makes absentee voting in person available beginning on the forty-fifth day prior to the election and ending at 5:00 p.m. on the Saturday immediately preceding the election. The bill retains the current provisions for voting with an absentee ballot by mail or in person prior to the second Saturday immediately preceding the election, including the application requirement and the list of statutory reasons for absentee voting. The provisions of the bill do not become effective until the November 3, 2020, general election, and the State Board of Elections is required to submit a report on the procedures and instructions it promulgates for conducting absentee voting pursuant to the provisions of the bill. 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 (CHAP0668)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0668)
2. **House amendments adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+amd+HB2790AH)
3. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2790ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2790ER)
4. **House: Presented and ordered printed 19102828D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2790)
5. **House: Printed as engrossed 19102828D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2790E)
6. **Senate amendments engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+amd+HB2790ASE)

## Votes

- Reported from Privileges and Elections with amendment — **20–2** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed House — **89–10** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Privileges and Elections with amendments — **12–2** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance — **12–4** (pass) · upper
- Senate amendments agreed to by House — **90–9** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate with amendments — **34–6** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Nick Rush — primary (person)
- Charniele L. Herring — cosponsor (person)
- Cheryl B. Turpin — cosponsor (person)
- R. Steven Landes — cosponsor (person)
- Todd E. Pillion — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-18** Presented and ordered printed 19102828D `introduction`
- **2019-01-18** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-21** Assigned P & E sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-02-04** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-02-04** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2019-02-04** Engrossed by House as amended HB2790E
- **2019-02-04** Printed as engrossed 19102828D-E
- **2019-02-05** Read third time and passed House (89-Y 10-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-06** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-02-06** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-12** Rereferred to Finance `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-20** Passed by for the day
- **2019-02-21** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-21** Reading of amendments waived
- **2019-02-21** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2019-02-21** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2019-02-21** Senate amendments agreed to by House (90-Y 9-N)
- **2019-02-23** Enrolled
- **2019-02-23** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-23** Signed by President
- **2019-03-04** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 4, 2019
- **2019-03-04** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-21** Approved by Governor-Chapter 668 (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/6d33a94a-d42f-424c-9bae-a01359746577`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).