Overview
- Gov. Josh Stein vetoed House Bill 958 on Monday at a public "Protect Our Vote" event and called the measure "anti-voter," urging citizens to ask legislators to uphold his veto.
- The bill would cut early in-person voting for primaries, primary runoffs and special elections from 17 days to 10 days and would not take effect for the November election.
- Sponsors wrote the measure would require using federal and out-of-state databases, such as SAVE and DMV matches, to remove deceased or ineligible registrants and would direct the state auditor to run recurring post-election performance audits.
- The legislature passed the bill strictly along party lines in the House (62-47) and Senate (28-13), and Republican leaders say they plan to press for an override in a likely late-November or December session before new lawmakers are sworn in.
- Democrats warn the bill removes a due-process notice that helps prevent wrongful purges, cite flaws exposed by the 2024 Griffin ballot challenge, and critics and supporters dispute whether audits and data checks will improve confidence or risk disenfranchising lawful voters.