“He turned in 19 voters to the registrar [of] folks that were deceased,” said a source with HarrisonburgVOTES, who wished to remain anonymous to avoid connecting the accused student with any campus organizations.

Republicans in the state House of Delegates, who in recent years have supported tighter voter ID laws, held a conference call with reporters to call attention to the investigation.

The proposals come after people working with third-party groups in Alexandria and Harrisonburg submitted allegedly fraudulent voter applications using false identities, including some applications that used names of dead people. Both cases involved employees of third-party groups. Charges have been filed in the Alexandria case. The other is under investigation. In an email, Cole said the Alexandria and Harrisonburg cases “brought the issue to light.” “There have been concerns and complaints about third-party registration groups before, including the failure to properly complete forms and the failure to turn in forms,” Cole said. “This can cause people to think they have registered to vote when they may not be.” In 2012, a Republican operative was arrested for allegedly dumping completed voter registration applications in a trash bin behind a Harrisonburg store, but the charges were dropped.