In a 33-7 vote, the Virginia Senate has voted to allow individuals who will be age 65 or older on the date of an election for which an absentee ballot is requested to vote absentee. Sen. John Miller (D-Newport News) introduced the legislation, SB188.

Sen. Miller’s bill incorporated related bill from Sen. Jennifer Wexton (D-Loudoun), Sen. John Edwards (D-Roanoke), and Sen. George Barker (D-Fairfax).   Under the existing statute, a voter must have qualified to vote absentee based on one of 11 other criteria unrelated to age.

A similar House bill, HB100, was stricken from the docket in the House Privileges and Elections Committee.