                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

DEFINITIONS (§ 24.2-101)

As used in this title, unless the context requires a different meaning:
		&#8220;Ballot scanner machine&#8221; means the electronic counting machine in
which a voter inserts a marked ballot to be scanned and the results tabulated.
		&#8220;Candidate&#8221; means a person who seeks or campaigns for an office of
the Commonwealth or one of its governmental units in a general, primary, or
special election and who is qualified to have his name placed on the ballot for
the office. &#8220;Candidate&#8221; shall include a person who seeks the
nomination of a political party or who, by reason of receiving the nomination of
a political party for election to an office, is referred to as its nominee. For
the purposes of Chapters 8 (§ 24.2-800 et seq.), 9.3 (§ 24.2-945 et seq.), and
9.5 (§ 24.2-955 et seq.), &#8220;candidate&#8221; shall include any write-in
candidate. However, no write-in candidate who has received less than 15 percent
of the votes cast for the office shall be eligible to initiate an election
contest pursuant to Article 2 (§ 24.2-803 et seq.) of Chapter 8. For the
purposes of Chapters 9.3 (§ 24.2-945 et seq.) and 9.5 (§ 24.2-955 et seq.),
&#8220;candidate&#8221; shall include any person who raises or spends funds in
order to seek or campaign for an office of the Commonwealth, excluding federal
offices, or one of its governmental units in a party nomination process or
general, primary, or special election; and such person shall be considered a
candidate until a final report is filed pursuant to Article 3 (§ 24.2-947 et
seq.) of Chapter 9.3.
		&#8220;Central absentee voter precinct&#8221; means a precinct established
pursuant to § 24.2-712 for the processing of absentee ballots for the county or
city or any combination of precincts within the county or city.
		&#8220;Constitutional office&#8221; or &#8220;constitutional officer&#8221;
means a county or city office or officer referred to in Article VII, § 4 of the
Constitution of Virginia: clerk of the circuit court, attorney for the
Commonwealth, sheriff, commissioner of the revenue, and treasurer.
		&#8220;Department of Elections&#8221; or &#8220;Department&#8221; means the
state agency headed by the Commissioner of Elections.
		&#8220;Direct recording electronic machine&#8221; or &#8220;DRE&#8221; means
the electronic voting machine on which a voter touches areas of a computer
screen, or uses other control features, to mark a ballot and his vote is
recorded electronically.
		&#8220;Election&#8221; means a general, primary, or special election.
		&#8220;Election district&#8221; means the territory designated by proper
authority or by law which is represented by an official elected by the people,
including the Commonwealth, a congressional district, a General Assembly
district, or a district for the election of an official of a county, city, town,
or other governmental unit.
		&#8220;Electoral board&#8221; or &#8220;local electoral board&#8221; means a
board appointed pursuant to § 24.2-106 to administer elections for a county or
city. The electoral board of the county in which a town or the greater part of a
town is located shall administer the town&#8217;s elections.
		&#8220;Entrance of polling place&#8221; or &#8220;entrance to polling
place&#8221; means an opening in the wall used for ingress to a structure.
		&#8220;General election&#8221; means an election held in the Commonwealth on
the Tuesday after the first Monday in November or on the first Tuesday in May
for the purpose of filling offices regularly scheduled by law to be filled at
those times.
		&#8220;General registrar&#8221; means the person appointed by the electoral
board of a county or city pursuant to § 24.2-110 to be responsible for all
aspects of voter registration, in addition to other duties prescribed by this
title. When performing duties related to the administration of elections, the
general registrar is acting in his capacity as the director of elections for the
locality in which he serves.
		&#8220;Machine-readable ballot&#8221; means a tangible ballot that is marked
by a voter or by a system or device operated by a voter, is available for
verification by the voter at the time the ballot is cast, and is then fed into
and scanned by a separate counting machine capable of reading ballots and
tabulating results.
		&#8220;Officer of election&#8221; means a person appointed by an electoral
board pursuant to § 24.2-115 to serve at a polling place for any election.
		&#8220;Paper ballot&#8221; means a tangible ballot that is marked by a voter
and then manually counted.
		&#8220;Party&#8221; or &#8220;political party&#8221; means an organization of
citizens of the Commonwealth which, at either of the two preceding statewide
general elections, received at least 10 percent of the total vote cast for any
statewide office filled in that election. The organization shall have a state
central committee and an office of elected state chairman which have been
continually in existence for the six months preceding the filing of a nominee
for any office.
		&#8220;Person with a disability&#8221; means a person with a disability as
defined in § 51.5-40.1.
		&#8220;Polling place&#8221; means the structure that contains the one place
provided for each precinct at which the qualified voters who are residents of
the precinct may vote.
		&#8220;Precinct&#8221; means the territory designated by the governing body of
a county, city, or town to be served by one polling place.
		&#8220;Primary&#8221; or &#8220;primary election&#8221; means an election held
for the purpose of selecting a candidate to be the nominee of a political party
for election to office.
		&#8220;Printed ballot&#8221; means a tangible ballot that is printed on paper
and includes both machine-readable ballots and paper ballots.
		&#8220;Qualified voter&#8221; means a person who is entitled to vote pursuant
to the Constitution of Virginia and who is (i) 18 years of age on or before the
day of the election or qualified pursuant to § 24.2-403 or subsection D of §
24.2-544, (ii) a resident of the Commonwealth and of the precinct in which he
offers to vote, and (iii) a registered voter. No person who has been convicted
of a felony shall be a qualified voter unless his civil rights have been
restored by the Governor or other appropriate authority. No person adjudicated
incapacitated shall be a qualified voter unless his capacity has been
reestablished as provided by law. Whether a signature should be counted towards
satisfying the signature requirement of any petition shall be determined based
on the signer of the petition&#8217;s qualification to vote. For purposes of
determining if a signature on a petition shall be included in the count toward
meeting the signature requirements of any petition, &#8220;qualified
voter&#8221; shall include only persons maintained on the Virginia voter
registration system (a) with active status and (b) with inactive status who are
qualified to vote for the office for which the petition was circulated.
		&#8220;Qualified voter in a town&#8221; means a person who is a resident
within the corporate boundaries of the town in which he offers to vote, duly
registered in the county of his residence, and otherwise a qualified voter.
		&#8220;Referendum&#8221; means any election held pursuant to law to submit a
question to the voters for approval or rejection.
		&#8220;Registered voter&#8221; means any person who is maintained on the
Virginia voter registration system. All registered voters shall be maintained on
the Virginia voter registration system with active status unless assigned to
inactive status by a general registrar in accordance with Chapter 4 (§ 24.2-400
et seq.). For purposes of applying the precinct size requirements of §
24.2-307, calculating election machine requirements pursuant to Article 3 (§
24.2-625 et seq.) of Chapter 6, mailing notices of local election district,
precinct or polling place changes as required by subdivision 13 of § 24.2-114
and § 24.2-306, and determining the number of signatures required for candidate
and voter petitions, &#8220;registered voter&#8221; shall include only persons
maintained on the Virginia voter registration system with active status. For
purposes of determining if a signature on a petition shall be included in the
count toward meeting the signature requirements of any petition,
&#8220;registered voter&#8221; shall include only persons maintained on the
Virginia voter registration system (i) with active status and (ii) on inactive
status who are qualified to vote for the office for which the petition was
circulated.
		&#8220;Registration records&#8221; means all official records concerning the
registration of qualified voters and shall include all records, lists,
applications, and files, whether maintained in books, on cards, on automated
data bases, or by any other legally permitted record-keeping method.
		&#8220;Residence&#8221; or &#8220;resident,&#8221; for all purposes of
qualification to register and vote, means and requires both domicile and a place
of abode. To establish domicile, a person must live in a particular locality
with the intention to remain. A place of abode is the physical place where a
person dwells.
		&#8220;Special election&#8221; means any election that is held pursuant to law
to fill a vacancy in office or to hold a referendum.
		&#8220;State Board&#8221; or &#8220;Board&#8221; means the State Board of
Elections.
		&#8220;Virginia voter registration system&#8221; or &#8220;voter registration
system&#8221; means the automated central record-keeping system for all voters
registered within the Commonwealth that is maintained as provided in Article 2
(§ 24.2-404 et seq.) of Chapter 4.
		&#8220;Voting system&#8221; means the electronic voting and counting machines
used at elections, including direct recording electronic machines (DRE), ballot
scanner machines, and on-demand ballot printing systems and ballot marking
devices used to manufacture or mark ballots to be cast by voters on electronic
voting and counting machines.

HISTORY: Code 1950, §§ 24-17, 24-18, 24-18.2, 24-22, 24-23, 24-44, 24-136,
24-137, 24-172, 24-346; 1956, c. 378; 1963, Ex. Sess., c. 2; 1964, c. 592; 1970,
c. 462, §§ 24.1-1, 24.1-41, 24.1-42, 24.1-93; 1971, Ex. Sess., cc. 119, 205,
265; 1972, c. 620; 1973, c. 30; 1974, c. 428; 1975, c. 515; 1977, cc. 30, 490;
1978, c. 778; 1982, c. 650; 1983, c. 461; 1989, c. 322; 1991, 1st Sp. Sess., c.
12; 1993, c. 641; 1996, cc. 72, 73; 1997, c. 801; 1998, c. 866; 2001, c. 719;
2002, c. 487; 2003, c. 1015; 2005, c. 384; 2006, cc. 205, 787, 892; 2007, c.
311; 2008, c. 880; 2009, cc. 865, 870, 874; 2010, c. 707; 2013, cc. 542, 684;
2014, cc. 540, 576; 2015, c. 740; 2016, cc. 18, 492; 2020, c. 294; 2021, Sp.
Sess. I, c. 471; 2022, cc. 125, 126; 2024, cc. 191, 515.