Virginia: How to Vote, Where to Vote and What’s on the Ballot

Control of the state government will be decided on Tuesday, with all 140 seats in the General Assembly on the ballot. Republicans currently have a narrow majority in the House, while Democrats narrowly control the Senate.

Republicans — following a strategy devised by Gov. Glenn Youngkin — have sought to neutralize abortion as an election issue to halt Democrats’ momentum. If they succeed, their tactics could be used as a road map by conservative lawmakers in other states looking to stanch losses after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision.

Here’s what else to know:

How to vote

All eligible Virginia residents can cast a ballot on Tuesday regardless of whether they registered in advance to vote. The state enacted a same-day voter registration law last year.

Full-time Virginia residents who are 18 years old or older can register at their designated polling location until voting closes at 7 p.m. Eastern time. They will be given a provisional ballot that will be counted once a county clerk approves the registration.

All voters should bring a valid form of identification to the polls.

Registered voters who do not bring IDs to the polls can still cast a ballot, but will be required to sign an affidavit attesting that they are registered.

Voters who have already requested and received absentee ballots must drop them off by the time voting ends on Tuesday. Those ballots can be submitted in person at a local registrar’s office, placed in a ballot drop box or submitted by mail. Absentee ballots postmarked on or before Election Day will be counted.

Where to vote

Find designated polling sites using this online look-up tool from the Virginia Department of Elections.

Voters with absentee ballots can find the address of the local registrar’s office online. Ballot drop box location information was also included in the materials sent along with the absentee ballot.

What’s on the ballot

Every seat in Virginia’s General Assembly is up for election on Tuesday. Party control of the legislature is split, with Democrats holding a majority in the Virginia Senate and Republicans controlling the House.

Virginia Republicans are hoping to flip the state’s Senate. Democrats have emphasized that a Republican trifecta could pass tighter restrictions on abortion, like other conservative state governments in the South. A good night for Republicans on Tuesday could indicate that Democrats’ messaging about abortion access doesn’t influence moderate voters’ choices at the polls as much as it did immediately after Roe v. Wade was overturned.

A full sample ballot has been compiled by Ballotpedia.