republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2024/hb-998.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Conduct of elections; electoral board to meet and ascertain results."
description: "Conduct of elections; electoral board to meetto ascertain results; permitted period of adjournment. Permitslocal electoral boards, when meeting after an election to ascertainthe results of such election, to adjourn as needed for a period notto exceed seven calendar days from the deadline for timely postmarkedabsentee ballots to be returned in order to be counted. Under currentlaw, the local electoral boards are permitted to adjourn for a periodnot to exceed seven calendar days from the date of the election.The bill contains technical amendments for organizational purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "HB 998"
citation: "Virginia HB 998 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bonita G. Anthony"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 29
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2024-01-09"
last_action: "2024-04-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9799d75f-3225-4b29-bdb3-607ebaa00015"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+HB998"
source_hash: "29aa900a8818c018bba39b2cea24ff06747400919fc272d075a8019cc372ceec"
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 998 (2024) — Conduct of elections; electoral board to meet and ascertain results.

Conduct of elections; electoral board to meetto ascertain results; permitted period of adjournment. Permitslocal electoral boards, when meeting after an election to ascertainthe results of such election, to adjourn as needed for a period notto exceed seven calendar days from the deadline for timely postmarkedabsentee ballots to be returned in order to be counted. Under currentlaw, the local electoral boards are permitted to adjourn for a periodnot to exceed seven calendar days from the date of the election.The bill contains technical amendments for organizational purposes.

## Version chain

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

1. **CHAP0738** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+CHAP0738)
2. **Committee substitute printed 24107071D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+HB998H1)
3. **HB998ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+HB998ER)
4. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24101356D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+HB998)

## Votes

- Reported from Privileges and Elections (12-Y 3-N) — **12–3** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (27-Y 12-N) — **27–12** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (88-Y 10-N) — **87–10** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bonita G. Anthony — primary (person)
- Adele Y. McClure — cosponsor (person)
- Jackie H. Glass — cosponsor (person)
- Joshua G. Cole — cosponsor (person)
- Phil M. Hernandez — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24101356D `filing, introduction`
- **2024-01-09** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-22** Impact statement from DPB (HB998)
- **2024-02-09** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2024-02-09** Reported from Privileges and Elections with substitute (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-09** Committee substitute printed 24107071D-H1 `substitution`
- **2024-02-09** Incorporates HB1238 (Sickles)
- **2024-02-11** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2024-02-12** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-12** Committee substitute agreed to 24107071D-H1 `substitution`
- **2024-02-12** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB998H1 `substitution`
- **2024-02-12** Impact statement from DPB (HB998H1)
- **2024-02-13** Read third time and passed House (88-Y 10-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-02-13** VOTE: Passage (88-Y 10-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-14** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2024-02-14** Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-20** Reported from Privileges and Elections (12-Y 3-N) `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-22** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2024-02-23** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2024-02-23** Passed Senate (27-Y 12-N) `passage`
- **2024-02-28** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2024-02-28** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB998ER) `passage`
- **2024-02-28** Impact statement from DPB (HB998ER)
- **2024-02-28** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2024-03-02** Signed by President `passage`
- **2024-03-11** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 11, 2024 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2024-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 8, 2024 `executive-receipt`
- **2024-04-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 738 (effective 7/1/24) `executive-signature`
- **2024-04-08** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0738)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9799d75f-3225-4b29-bdb3-607ebaa00015`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).