The story was updated at 2:30 p.m.

Virginia lawmakers advanced a bill Monday to allocate $2 million to the upcoming general election, with Democrats in the majority voting to allow ballot drop boxes and third-party ballot collection while Republicans expressed skepticism over vote security.

“No one should have to risk his or her life in order to exercise their franchise in this state,” said Sen. Janet Howell (D-Reston), chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee and chief patron of the legislation.

The senate bill would refund local voting offices for providing prepaid postage for absentee ballots. It would also allow absentee ballots to be returned by mail or in person to local registrar offices or to designated drop-off locations, like ballot drop boxes. (D.C. and Maryland will have drop boxes for the election.) The bill would also permit ballots to be sent by commercial delivery service.

It was that last provision that set off alarm bells among Republicans.

“What would have been felonious before, which is having a person in between the voter and the ballot, is now expressly permitted,” said state Sen. Stephen Newman (R-Forest). Combined with a consent decree that strikes a requirement for absentee voters to obtain a signature from a witness, Newman said, “I can’t imagine anything that is more inviting of fraud.”

In addition, the legislation requires registrars to examine ballot envelopes for ballots received before October 31, 2020 and notify voters of any errors within three days. Voters would then be able to correct their ballots before noon on the third day after the election.

The bill would only apply to the November 2020 election.

Later Monday afternoon, Democrats in the House Appropriations Committee passed a counterpart to Howell’s bill on a strict party-line vote.

Virginia’s Department of Elections and local election offices and registrars are currently taking applications for absentee ballots. Under a new law that took effect in July, no excuse is needed to vote absentee. The deadline to apply for a ballot is Oct. 31, 2020, although registrars will not be required to contact voters with errors on their ballots if they arrive after that date.

Virginia also offers in-person absentee voting, the commonwealth’s version of early voting, for a 45-day period that kicks off on Sept. 18.

The story was updated to include the House committee’s passage of a related voting bill.