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State Senator Amanda Chase R-Chesterfield said Wednesday that she is drafting legislation to limit mail-in voting and require a photo ID now that Virginia will have a Republican governor. She also plans to push for a forensic audit of Virginia’s 2020 election results after spending recent months traveling the country participating in election audit protests like the one she organized outside of the Virginia State Capitol in August.
”While I’m thankful freedom won this election cycle, I’m still fully committed to election integrity,” Chase tweeted Wednesday, the day after the Republican statewide ticket swept the Democrats. “Tomorrow, I begin drafting legislation to put the guardrails back on our elections including photo ID to vote. Mail in ballots increase the risk of issues.”
The state Senator has made election integrity a priority, even though there has been no evidence to prove any voter fraud in Virginia during the 2020 election. In an interview with Virginia Scope, Chase explained why she wants to limit mail-in absentee voting, something that was significantly expanded under Democratic rule in 2020.
“I think there should be minimal exceptions,” Chase said. “One of the things that I have learned is that you can increase and decrease certain risk factors.” She believes that mail-in voting provides more opportunities for something to go wrong in the voting process. After multiple elections in Virginia, election officials have reported no significant problems with mail-in voting.
She noted that Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin was able to afford poll watchers and lawyers to monitor the process, but she says she wants to change the code to protect the candidates who cannot afford those same accommodations. “We gotta make sure that we secure elections for candidates,” Chase said.
Virginia law does not require a photo ID to vote as long as you sign a form confirming your identity. An analysis from Virginia Mercury earlier this year showed that a very minuscule percentage of voters did not show their photo ID to vote.
While Youngkin has steered clear of election integrity talks and acknowledged that Joe Biden was the 2020 winner, he did speak at a rally over the summer advocating for requiring a photo ID to vote in Virginia. “I’ll ask everyone to show up to vote with a photo ID,” he also said during a gubernatorial debate.
Chase says she will be soon drafting legislation to help the governor-elect make that happen.
“Photo ID is a bill I introduced last session but it was passed by for the year,” Chase continued Wednesday. “I just think it is a good best practice. You have to have a valid photo ID just to live in society here in Virginia and America. I really don’t think that is that heavy of a lift.”
While she made the public statement Wednesday, Chase says she has not talked to Youngkin about it. “I understand what its like to run for governor.”
She told Virginia Scope that she and Youngkin agreed to sit down after the election and talk about her findings from traveling the country looking for election fraud.
Chase plans to continue that effort in Virginia now that Republicans have much more power within the state government. “Now that we will have a Republican Governor, I look forward to seriously pursuing a full forensic audit of the 2020 Pres Election,” Chase tweeted Wednesday. “We were able to learn from 2020 and put extra safeguards in place for 2021. Still much work to do to make sure there’s never a repeat of 2020.”
Virginia election officials reported no problems with the 2020 elections. The results in 2021 were not questioned by Chase or other Republicans this year, however, as they won across the board.
When asked if she wants a forensic audit of the 2021 election results, Chase responded by citing the Virginia Code that already requires an audit of Virginia’s voting machines.
Governor-elect Youngkin did not provide comment for this article.
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