Virginia law already lets political parties, candidates, PAC’s, and elected office-holders obtain the list of which voters voted in the last election. A bill is moving through the legislature that adds a new category to the list, namely, groups that encourage voter turnout. It is SB 624, and it has already passed the State Senate unanimously and also has passed a Subcommittee in the House.

The bill is moving along because a group called the Know Campaign sued the state. The Attorney General does not feel that he can defend the lawsuit, so he is asking the legislature to amend the law so as to make the lawsuit moot. See this story in the Virginian-Pilot newspaper of Norfolk. The story’s title, “Nosy neighbors could know your votes” is not very clear. The information only concerns who voted, not how anyone voted.

The Know Campaign’s goal is to increase voter turnout. The Know Campaign is non-partisan and non-ideological. In certain other states, the Know Campaign obtained the list of which voters had voted in the last election, and publicized it. The Know Campaign believes that if people will realize that other people will know if they voted or not, that they will be more likely to vote. Research does support this hypothesis.