Skip to main content

VIRGINIA's STATE LAWS REGARDING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS

  • Electoral College Votes Count: 13
  • Alocation Type: winner-takes-all
  • Electors Must Pledge: yes

Elector Pledge and Electoral College Votes Allocation​

Virginia is one of the 48 states that have a winner-takes-all rule for the Electoral College. In these States, whichever candidate receives a majority of the popular vote, or a plurality of the popular vote (less than 50 percent but more than any other candidate), takes all of the state’s Electoral votes.Virginia is one of the states have passed laws that require their electors to vote as pledged. These laws may either impose a fine on an elector who fails to vote according to the statewide or district popular vote, or may disqualify an elector who violates his or her pledge and provide a replacement elector.

Election Code: V.A. 24.2-542; 24.2-203

How Does Virginia Select Its Electors?​

  • In elections for President and Vice President of the United States, the appropriate chairman or secretary of each political party shall furnish to the State Board by noon of the seventy-fourth day before the presidential election the names of the electors selected by the party at its convention held for that purpose, together with the names of the political party and of the candidates for President and Vice President for whom the electors are required to vote in the Electoral College and a copy of a subscribed and notarized oath by each elector stating that he will, if elected, cast his ballot for the candidates for President and Vice President nominated by the party that selected the elector, or as the party may direct in the event of death, withdrawal or disqualification of the party nominee.

When Do The Electors Vote?​

  • The electors shall convene at the capitol building in the capital city of the Commonwealth at 12:00 noon on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December following their election. Those electors present shall immediately fill, by ballot and by a plurality of votes, any vacancy due to death, failure or inability to attend, refusal to act, or other cause. When all electors are present, or the vacancies have been filled, they shall proceed to perform the duties required of such electors by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Electors selected by the state convention of any political party as defined in § 24.2-101 shall be required to vote for the nominees of the national convention to which the state convention elects delegates. Electors named in any petition of qualified voters as provided in § 24.2-543 shall be required to vote for the persons named for President and for Vice President in the petition. The State has 13 of the total 538 electoral votes that make up the U.S. Electoral College.

The information provided on the page was validated using the following resourses: