Virginia agrees to make voter registration easier for college students

A federal judge has approved a settlement agreement between the NAACP Virginia State Conference and the Virginia State Board of Elections that will make it easier for college students to register to vote and ensure fewer of their registration applications are rejected. 

The agreement represents a major victory both for students and voting access more broadly in the Old Dominion.

In November, the Virginia NAACP filed a lawsuit accusing state election officials of unlawfully rejecting college students’ voter registrations. The civil rights organization said the students’ applications were often denied for missing address information — such as a dorm name or room number — that students aren’t required to include. 

After initially fighting the lawsuit, the state eventually came to an agreement with the plaintiffs. Now, Virginia officials cannot reject applications solely for missing a campus mailing address, dorm room number or campus mailbox number. 

The change will go into effect in time for the upcoming August primary election. 

In its suit, the Virginia NAACP, represented by Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP and the Advancement Project racial justice nonprofit, argued the state had rejected “innumerable” applications from college students in violation of the Materiality Provision of the Civil Rights Act and the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

The organization’s complaint listed multiple incidents from across the state of election officials rejecting students’ voter registration applications and same-day registration provisional ballots based on the missing address information. 

The new agreement requires officials to accept applications from eligible students who provide enough information to determine their voting precinct. It also applies to same-day registration provisional ballots.

Before this year’s November general election, Virginia election officials must also issue formal statewide guidance, update training materials and election handbooks, and create educational resources for campuses explaining what information students must provide when registering to vote.