After a coalition of GOP-led voters voiced concerns about Hanover's election security last month, General Registrar Teri Smithson spoke to the board of supervisors this week about the office’s preparedness leading up to Election Day.
During Wednesday’s meeting, Smithson shared how the Hanover Voter Registration & Elections Office is gearing up for the first influx of early voters on Sept. 20 — and what steps the county has taken to ensure the integrity of its polling places aren’t compromised.
“Voting seems to be a hot topic every four years, but quite frankly, we do this every single year,” Smithson said to supervisors. “The question of election integrity has been first and foremost since 2020.”
Smithson provided historical context to the board about how the county’s elections have been administered since a swath of new voting laws and boundaries came into effect, starting with Hanover place in Virginia’s most recent redistricting.
Redistricting is the process in which states redefine their political boundaries with information collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. This process takes place every 10 years in Virginia and can affect where and whom one votes for.
Virginia created a new system for redistricting following a voter referendum in 2020. That commission’s attempts were later thrown out by Virginia’s Supreme Court, which then hired nonpartisan masters to draw two maps and consolidated them in time for the 2023 primaries. Currently, Hanover sits in Virginia’s 1st and 5th congressional districts.
At the General Assembly level, the county went from the 10th Senate District to the 26th SD, though it retained the 59th and 60th House districts. Smithson said some of those numbers are still new to residents of Hanover.
The county has also registered thousands of new voters since November 2023. As of Sept. 1, Hanover has 88,746 registered voters on the rolls, compared to 80,424 registered voters during the 2020 election and 73,328 in 2016, according to the Virginia Department of Elections. Registration could still increase before Oct. 15, the last day to register or update voting information in Virginia in time for a general election ballot.
And since Virginia has same-day voter registration, eligible voters can register after Oct. 15 right up to when they get to the polls in November — they’ll just use a provisional ballot instead.
Smithson said she expects voters to be eager to cast votes at one of the county’s 36 polling places or dropboxes, especially early voters.
“We are anticipating at least 40,000 people to come through the Wickham Building in those 46 days that we’re open before the election,” Smithson said. “In comparison to the 34,000 that we had during the 2020 election.”
Smithson also told the board that the process by which votes are cast, counted and secured is of the utmost importance to the election office. Although the GOP-led group of voters requested that Hanover County count its paper ballots by hand during the upcoming election, Smithson said the current system is more than sufficient.
Early voting and absentee ballots are kept in the custody of frequently-trained election officers. The local elections office also coordinates with county public safety officials to ensure the safety of poll workers, voters and ballot boxes — which are kept under 24-hour surveillance.
Smithson added that the county’s vote-counting-machines are up-to-date and secure and she invited anyone with questions about election security to visit the general registrar's office.
“We want to make sure that our people are not only safe in the polling places and our voters are safe walking into them,” Smithson said. “We've always got eyes watching each other, but it's in a heart of giving and making sure that every vote counts. One vote, one person.”
