Image via Shutterstock

Image via Shutterstock

Last week the Virginia Senate unanimously approved a bill that will allow the State Board of Education to establish online voter registration. Once the system is implemented, voters will be able to register and make changes to their existing registration online. The bill now goes to Gov. Bob McDonnell for his signature.

Virginia is following in Maryland’s footsteps, which was among the first 12 states in the country to enable online voter registration. Within two months of its implementation last year, 22,000 Maryland residents used the online system to register.

Once Virginia’s system goes live, D.C. will be the only jurisdiction in the DMV not to offer online voter registration. The D.C. Board of Elections offer “online” registration, but residents still have to print out the form they filled out online and send it in. Though Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) introduced a bill last year that would allow the board to craft its own online voter registration system, he hasn’t reintroduced the bill this year.

Recently a D.C. Council candidate criticized the elections board for not updating the addresses of tens of thousands of voters.