Virginia ‘Defending Democracy’

“During a time when our society is being overwhelmed by so much misinformation, we are committed to ensuring that we let Virginians know that they can trust the elections process,” said Christopher Piper, Commissioner for the Virginia Department of Elections.

The Virginia Department of Elections has remained vigilant concerning the potential threats against our election infrastructure, and continues to work with our local, state, and federal partners to ensure the safety and security of our electoral process.

Virginians should feel confident that their votes will be counted accurately! The Department of Elections has worked to remove unsecure voting systems from service at the local level and promoted the transition to modern voting systems using voter verified paper-based balloting. Also, the equipment voters use to cast their ballots in Virginia are not connected to the Internet.

Ensuring the integrity of our elections has always been and will continue to be a top priority for election officials across the Commonwealth.

SECURING YOUR VOTE -- The Department of Elections encourages voters to take the following steps to help promote election security and voter confidence:

• Check your voter registration status to ensure that it is current and/or find your polling place. Virginia provides a secure way for voters to access their registration information through its citizen portal: https://www.elections.virginia.gov/citizen-portal/.

• Seek and share trusted sources for election information: The people who run elections in our county (Nelson County Registrar/ Nelson County Electoral Board) are the best sources of information about the voting process where we live. Answering voters’ questions is part of their job, and they are responsible for making sure its communities have accurate information.

• Be wary of unverified “facts” about the voting process that have gone viral this year on social media, many of which may be inaccurate.

• Follow the Virginia Department of Elections on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and see https://www.elections.virginia.gov for state-wide information.

• If you are confused at any point, seek answers on the state website https://www.elections.virginia.gov or the Nelson County website https://www.nelsoncounty-va.gov/residents/voter-registration/ Or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/nelson.votes. Or, contact them directly: Nelson County General Registrar's Office: 434-263-7190 or jbritt@nelsoncounty.org.

Source: Virginia Department of Elections website.

Art by Lauren Boggs Meslar