Based on Tuesday's ruling by the Virginia State Board of Elections, all jurisdictions in the commonwealth, including Fairfax County, will now count federal write-in absentee ballots that were previously denied because of missing information.
"I'm very happy this issue, which was created by the legislature, has been resolved. We always wanted to count these votes, and I am pleased we now have the go-ahead to do so," said Fairfax County General Registrar Rokey Suleman.
According to Virginia Code, a federal write-in absentee ballot being submitted as both an absentee ballot application and as a completed absentee ballot must include a witness's signature and address. Fairfax County received some federal write-in absentee ballots that were missing an address and were not going to be
counted on Election Day.
The SBE ruling cited a conflicting federal law, which preempts the state law.
"In Fairfax County, we have already received 74,000 absentee ballots, which exceeds the number from any previous year," Suleman said.
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