Old Dominion News

Virginia Circuit Court Judge William Eldridge ruled that accepting absentee ballots without postmarks that are received up to three days after the election is in violation of Virginia law.

The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), on behalf of Thomas Reed, a local electoral board member, has announced the court-approved consent decree, The Epoch Times reported.

PILF filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of the County of Frederick against the state’s board of elections in October on behalf of Thomas Reed, seeking injunction to enforce Virginia Law requiring a postmark dated on or before the election day be required for acceptance.

“This is a big win for the Rule of Law,” Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) President and General Counsel J. Christian Adams said. “This consent decree gives Mr. Reed everything he requested – a permanent ban on accepting ballots without postmarks after Election Day and is a loss for the Virginia bureaucrats who said ballots could come in without these protections.”

The current Virginia statute § 24.2-709 says that “any absentee ballot returned to the general registrar after the closing of the polls on election day but before noon on the third day after the election and postmarked on or before the date of the election shall be counted.”