Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has issued an executive order to bolster the commonwealth's "election security procedures" ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Youngkin issued Executive Order 35 on Wednesday to "protect legal voters and accurate counts" through "stringent ballot security, complete and thorough counting machine testing" and "best-in-the-nation voter list maintenance," according to the document.

"The Virginia model for election security works," the governor said in a statement. "This isn't a Democrat or Republican issue: It's an American and Virginian issue. Every legal vote deserves to be counted without being watered down by illegal votes or inaccurate machines. In Virginia, we don't play games and our model for election security is working."

As head of a state increasingly seen as a possible battleground in November's presidential election, Youngkin explained the measures being taken to ensure ballot security.

"We use 100% paper ballots with a strict chain of custody," he said. "We use counting machines, not voting machines, that are tested prior to every election and never connected to the internet. We do not mass mail ballots. We monitor our drop boxes 24/7.

"We verify the legal presence and identity of voters using DMV data and other trusted data sources to update our voter rolls daily, not only adding new voters, but scrubbing the lists to remove those that should not be on it, like the deceased, individuals that have moved, and noncitizens that have accidentally or maliciously attempted to register," he added.

According to the executive order, nearly 80,000 deceased voters were removed from the state's voter rolls over the past two years through a "comprehensive audit" conducted by sending out multiple National Change of Address mailings.

Additionally, another 6,303 noncitizens were removed from the voter rolls between January 2022 and July 2024.

Virginia is one of just three states in the nation that require individuals to provide their full nine-digit Social Security number to register to vote and more than 90% of the state's voters submit electronic registration applications online through the Department of Elections.

The order also directs the commissioner of the Department of Elections to certify in writing each year that election security measures are in place and "outlines the procedures in place for noncitizens who attempt to violate the law and register to vote."

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