Privileges And Elections

Friday, February 20, 2026·28m·▶ Watch / Listen

The Joint Privileges and Elections Committee met to approve the neutral voter explanation language accompanying a redistricting ballot question, adopting an amendment to correct a factual inaccuracy before approving the final explanation over bipartisan objections about fairness and partisan transparency.

Key Actions

·HB 1384 – Voter Explanation for Redistricting Ballot QuestionPassed

Controversies

Whether the ballot question's 'restore fairness' language is warranted given current and proposed legislative compositions

Senator D. Staff argued the current Senate (21 Democrats, 19 Republicans) and House (roughly 16 Democrats, 15 Republicans) compositions are already fair and that the new maps create a '10 Democrat, one Republican for the state district,' asking 'how is that fair?' The Senate Chair responded that voters 'will have the last and ultimate say in the referendum,' while Chairwoman Price stated the ballot question had already been voted on and decided and redirected discussion to the explanation language.

+ 2 more controversies

Notable Quotes

“Section 30.19.9 does require that we prepare a neutral explanation for the voters to be less than 500 words. Supposed to be plain English. This is prepared by the Division of Legislative Services and then is approved by the P and E Committees. It is available on the Department of Elections website. Once it's been approved, it'll be posted up in the polling places.”
Meg Lamb, attorney — Meg Lamb was explaining the statutory requirements governing the voter explanation that the committee was assembled to approve, establishing the legal framework for the meeting.

+ 4 more quotes

Votes

Amendment to change 'currently before the General Assembly' to 'has been approved by the General Assembly' in the voter explanation (proposed by Delegate Scott)Passed

Final approval of the amended explanation for votersPassed

Yes (14)Delegate Converse Fowler, Delegate Krizek, Delegate Reid, Delegate Glass, Delegate Cole, Delegate Henson, Delegate Anthony, Delegate Levir Bolling, Delegate Colson, Delegate McAuliff, Delegate Phillips / Madam Chair, Senator Srinivasan, Senator Carol Foy, Senator Deeds

No (3)Delegate McQuinn, Senator D. Staff, Senator Hackworth

Unlock the full summary

Subscribe to see all key actions, controversies, quotes, and what's next.

TranscriptPreview

Good morning. We call this meeting to order, a meeting of the Joint Privileges and Elections Committee. And we will let the Senate do their roll call first. Welcome. Thank you. There we go. Thank you. Madam Chair, this big Nintendo DS screen here is a bit different than the Senate. Please open a roll or we do a voice roll call. Senator Jones. Senator Jordan. Here. Senator Cyphers. Here. Senator Srinivasan. Senator Mokai. Senator Saleem. Here. Senator Diggs. Here. Senator Perry. Senator Durant. Senator Carol. Foy. Here. Senator D. Staff. Here. Senator Heckworth. Here. Senator Eben. Senator Deeds. Whoops. Sorry about that. Senator Rouse. Here. Mr. Chair. You have a quorum. Thank you. And Madam Clerk. Delegate. Congress. Fowler. Here. Delegate Krezik. Here. Delegate Reid. Present. Delegate Glass. Here. Delegate Cole. Present. Delegate Henson. Here. Delegate Anthony. Here. Delegate Levir. Boling. Here. Delegate Singh. Here. Delegate colson. Here. Delegate McAuliffe. Here. Delegate Carnegie. Here. Delegate Carroll. Delegate Bulova. Here. Delegate Oak. Quinn. Here. Delegate Leftwich. Delegate Bloxam. Here. Delegate Scott. Delegate Waxman. Delegate Cherry. Delegate Phillips. Madam Chair. Here. You have a quorum. And we've been joined by an additional senator as well. So we just want to let…

Subscribe to unlock the full transcript, summary, and search across all Virginia committee hearings.