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Virginia ballot · Nov. 3, 2026Checked Nov. 1, 2026

3 statewide measures on the ballot.

Three statewide questions are on Virginia's Nov. 3, 2026 ballot, all constitutional amendments referred by the General Assembly (Virginia has no citizen initiative): Question 1 (reproductive freedom), Question 2 (marriage) and Question 3 (right to vote and restoration of voting rights), as listed by the Department of Elections. Under Article XII of the Virginia Constitution an amendment must pass the General Assembly in two sessions with a House of Delegates election in between and then win a majority of those voting. Ballot questions, the official explanations and the full text come from the Department of Elections. Virginia publishes no fiscal statement for constitutional amendments; the official explanation is the state's only voter text. A fourth 2026 amendment, on congressional redistricting, was voted on at a separate statewide special election on April 21, 2026 (Department of Elections) and is not on the Nov. 3 ballot; news reports say voters approved it and the Supreme Court of Virginia struck it down in May 2026 (WDBJ/Virginia Mercury, Aug. 28, 2026). Local referendums on the department's list are not included.

Question 1 · Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

Proposed Constitutional Amendment Question 1

Would add a right to make one's own decisions about pregnancy care, birth control, abortion, miscarriage and fertility treatment to the Bill of Rights in Virginia's constitution, and bar the state from punishing people for using that right or for helping someone else use it. The state could still regulate abortion in the third trimester, but not ban one that a doctor judges necessary for the patient's life or physical or mental health, or where the fetus is not viable.

Passes with: A majority of those voting on the question (Constitution of Virginia, Article XII, Section 1: 'If a majority of those voting vote in favor of any amendment, it shall become part of the Constitution on the date prescribed by the General Assembly in submitting the amendment to the voters.').

Official ballot summary (the state’s text)

Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to (i) protect the freedom to make personal decisions about prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion, miscarriage management, and fertility care; (ii) protect doctors, nurses, and patients from being punished for these decisions; and (iii) allow for restrictions on access to abortion during the third trimester of pregnancy except when the patient's health is at risk or the pregnancy cannot survive?

Committees for and against

Raised and spent are separate measures from the same reports and are never added together.

Referendum committees registered with the Virginia Department of Elections whose statements of organization name this amendment (or all three questions) for the Nov. 3, 2026 election. Virginia Catholic Conference, LLC (RC-26-00006) is registered to oppose a statewide Nov. 3, 2026 referendum, but its filing does not say which question.

Court challenges

  • Bedford County Supervisor Charla Bansley's suit against House Clerk Paul Nardo (no case caption was reported), Campbell County Circuit Court (filed in Bedford County in March 2026): A Bedford County supervisor's suit, filed in March 2026, argued that the amendment was invalid because the House clerk did not formally send its text to the circuit court clerks, as the law then required (a February 2026 law later removed that requirement retroactively, WTOP/Virginia Mercury reported). A Campbell County Circuit Court judge dismissed the suit in July 2026, and the plaintiff's lawyers said they would appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia (Virginia Mercury). Appeal status: not yet checked. Virginia Mercury, July 15, 2026: legal challenge to reproductive rights amendment dismissed
  • Bluefield Town Council member Meagan Kade and a second plaintiff: challenge to the Question 1 ballot wording, Tazewell County Circuit Court: Filed in late April 2026 and represented by the Founding Freedoms Law Center, the plaintiffs say the ballot wording is misleading and asked that it be rewritten or the amendment invalidated (WTOP/Virginia Mercury, May 1, 2026; WDBJ/Virginia Mercury, Aug. 28, 2026). The Federalist reported on Oct. 27, 2026 that the judge denied the state's motion to stop the case and set a hearing for Nov. 13, 2026, after the election. WTOP (Virginia Mercury), May 2026: new court challenge targets abortion amendment ballot language

Sources: Virginia Department of Elections, Proposed Constitutional Amendment, Question 1 (explanation page); Full text.

Question 2 · Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

Proposed Constitutional Amendment Question 2

Would strike the language in Virginia's constitution that limits marriage to one man and one woman, which has not been enforceable since the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell decision. In its place the constitution would call marriage a vital personal right, bar the state and localities from refusing a marriage license to two adults because of their sex, gender or race, and require every lawful marriage between two adults to be recognized and treated equally.

Passes with: A majority of those voting on the question (Constitution of Virginia, Article XII, Section 1: 'If a majority of those voting vote in favor of any amendment, it shall become part of the Constitution on the date prescribed by the General Assembly in submitting the amendment to the voters.').

Official ballot summary (the state’s text)

Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to (i) remove the ban on same-sex marriage; (ii) affirm that two adults may marry regardless of sex, gender, or race; and (iii) require all legally valid marriages to be treated equally under the law?

Committees for and against

Raised and spent are separate measures from the same reports and are never added together.

Referendum committees registered with the Virginia Department of Elections whose statements of organization name this amendment (or all three questions) for the Nov. 3, 2026 election. Virginia Catholic Conference, LLC (RC-26-00006) is registered to oppose a statewide Nov. 3, 2026 referendum, but its filing does not say which question.

Sources: Virginia Department of Elections, Proposed Constitutional Amendment, Question 2 (explanation page); Full text.

Question 3 · Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

Proposed Constitutional Amendment Question 3

Would write a fundamental right to vote into Virginia's constitution and end the rule that a felony conviction takes away voting rights until the governor restores them: people would lose the vote only while incarcerated for a felony and get it back automatically on release. It would also replace the ban on voting by people ruled mentally incompetent with a narrower one covering only people a court finds cannot understand the act of voting.

Passes with: A majority of those voting on the question (Constitution of Virginia, Article XII, Section 1: 'If a majority of those voting vote in favor of any amendment, it shall become part of the Constitution on the date prescribed by the General Assembly in submitting the amendment to the voters.').

Official ballot summary (the state’s text)

Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended (i) to provide for the fundamental right to vote in the Commonwealth, (ii) to revise the qualifications of voters so that a person convicted of a felony is not entitled to vote during his period of incarceration but is automatically invested with the right to vote upon release from incarceration, and (iii) to update the existing prohibition on voting by persons found to be mentally incompetent to instead apply to persons who have been found to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting?

Committees for and against

Raised and spent are separate measures from the same reports and are never added together.

Referendum committees registered with the Virginia Department of Elections whose statements of organization name this amendment (or all three questions) for the Nov. 3, 2026 election. Virginia Catholic Conference, LLC (RC-26-00006) is registered to oppose a statewide Nov. 3, 2026 referendum, but its filing does not say which question.

Sources: Virginia Department of Elections, Proposed Constitutional Amendment, Question 3 (explanation page); Full text.

What is not here yet

  • Resolution and referendum-bill numbers are confirmed in the Legislative Information System's 2026 session bill and summary files (saved in raw/); the LIS bill pages themselves load only with JavaScript and were not read, and the enrolled texts and Acts of Assembly chapters were not compared word for word with the Department of Elections' printed amendment text.
  • Legislative vote counts, and the dates of first (2025) and second (2026) passage: not yet checked.
  • The 2026 bills that provide for the Nov. 3, 2026 referendums (HB 781/SB 449, HB 612/SB 311, HB 963/SB 6) are identified from LIS summaries; their enrolled text, including any ballot wording they set, was not read.
  • Fiscal impact: Virginia publishes no official fiscal summary for constitutional amendments as far as the Department of Elections' pages show; no fiscal statement is included.
  • Committees are matched to questions from each committee's statement of organization (purpose, date, scope and position). Virginia Catholic Conference, LLC (RC-26-00006) registered to oppose a statewide Nov. 3, 2026 referendum without naming the question, so it is not assigned to one.
  • Committees that did not register as referendum committees with the Department of Elections (federal PACs, nonprofits spending on their own): not yet checked.
  • Court challenges come from news reports; court dockets (Campbell County and Tazewell County circuit courts, Supreme Court of Virginia) not yet checked, nor the status of the Bansley appeal or the Nov. 13, 2026 hearing in the Kade case.
  • Lawsuits over Questions 2 and 3: not yet checked beyond the reporting cited.
  • The Supreme Court of Virginia ruling on the April 21, 2026 redistricting amendment comes from news reporting; the court's opinion was not read.

Gaps in the ballot records as of the date checked.