Virginia

Virginia governor moves to secure elections, rejoin ERIC | Lyra Bordelon/Staunton News Leader

Gov. Abigail Spanberger issued an executive order focused on securing Virginia voter’s ballots on Tuesday, March 24. The order makes a few changes, such as getting the state to rejoin a multi-state voter database, requiring any systematic removal of voters from the rolls be completed 90 days before an election, and requiring the state’s top elections official to certify that election security measures now in place are still in place each year. “I know it feels like it is always election season in Virginia,” said Spanberger in a press release on the executive order. “With even more days of voting on our calendar this year, I’m acting early to strengthen Virginia’s transparent, robust voting process and protect the rights of all eligible Virginia voters. The actions Virginia is taking today are not only critical to allowing all eligible Virginia voters to register and cast their ballot, but to making sure that only Virginians who are eligible to vote are able to vote in our Commonwealth – this year, and in every election into the future.” Read Article

Virginia: Judge rules state violated Reconstruction Era law by disenfranchising certain felons | Courthouse News Service

A federal judge ruled in favor of two disenfranchised Virginia voters Thursday, concluding the state’s broad felon disenfranchisement policy violates a 150-year-old federal statute. “For well over a century, the Commonwealth of Virginia has disobeyed a federal law designed to protect the right of former enslaved people to vote,” U.S. District Judge John Gibney wrote. “Nearly one hundred and twenty-five years after Senator Glass pleaded to ’emancipate Virginia’ from Black voters, a class of would-be voters appears before this court asking for true emancipation at the commonwealth’s ballot boxes.” Gibney, a Barack Obama appointee, granted an injunction barring Virginia from disenfranchising anyone whose convictions stem from felonies created after 1870, when Congress passed the Virginia Readmission Act. Not long after passing the Reconstruction Era law, Virginia lawmakers widened the net of felons they could disenfranchise. Gibney ruled that the act trumps any subsequent constitutions the commonwealth adopted. Read Article

Virginia’s tough rules for felons to regain their voting rights could soon be changing | Dean Mirshahi/NPR

Tati King says he wants to set an example for his grandchildren that it’s important to make sure their voices are heard. It’s why King, a 54-year-old living in Alexandria, Va., is suing Virginia election officials in federal court to get his voting rights restored. “I want them to see that their grandfather was on the right side of things for once in his life,” he said. King lost his ability to vote in the state because of a 2018 felony drug possession conviction. He served 11 months in prison and is now challenging Virginia’s constitutional rule that automatically strips anyone’s voting rights if they’re convicted of a felony. The constitution gives the governor sole authority to restore those rights. Read Articlew

Virginia: Judge indicates support for disenfranchised voters in challenge to felony voting laws | Joe Dodson/Courthouse News Service

A judge signaled that he was likely going to rule in favor of a pair of disenfranchised voters Thursday who argued Virginia’s felony voting law violates a 150-year-old federal statute. U.S. District Judge John Gibney, a Barack Obama appointee, said that while he was leaning toward the plaintiffs, he wanted further briefing on the impact of a favorable ruling. He also indicated support for certifying a class that includes all Virginians who are currently or will be disqualified from voting due to convictions for crimes that were not considered felonies at common law in 1870. “We’re very optimistic about the judge’s comments at the end of the hearing,” attorney Brittany Amadi, partner at Wilmer Cutler, representing the plaintiffs, said in an interview. “Our plaintiffs have been waiting for some, some of them years and years to get their voting rights back, and so we’re very excited about the opportunity for those plaintiffs to restore their rights.” Read Article

Virginia: Fairfax Democrats’ online primary crashes, forcing voting to extend after system failure | Princess Harrell/WJLA

What was supposed to be a test of modern voting technology turned into a weekend of frustration for some Fairfax County voters. The Fairfax County Democratic Committee’s first all-digital primary election experienced a major technical failure that temporarily shut down the online voting system and forced organizers to extend voting into Sunday. The three-day primary, held to select the Democratic nominee for the Braddock District seat on the Board of Supervisors, used the platform Election Buddy and introduced ranked-choice voting for the first time. There were no paper ballots. Read Article

Virginia: Bill would protect overseas service members from voter roll removal | Dean Mirshahi/VPM

The Virginia House of Delegates passed a bill that would keep state election officials from removing active-duty military members serving overseas from voter rolls. The proposal, introduced by Del. Amy Laufer (D–Charlottesville), would allow general registrars to only cancel voter registrations through a written request from the voter or data from an approved source. Laufer told a House subcommittee on Jan. 27 that the bill aims to protect military families overseas and other potential “vulnerable” voters from being improperly removed from the rolls. Read Article

Virginia: Waynesboro Board of Elections certifies 2024 general election | Lyra Bordelon/Staunton News Leader

The board met Tuesday in Waynesboro City Council chambers, a small audience ready to watch them certify the results of the 2024 general election. It was the first time the board has met in council chambers, as election results are typically certified at a poorly attended meeting in the registrar’s office down the street. “This is the first time we’re doing this in a public setting,” said Waynesboro Board of Elections Chair Curtis Lilly. The crowd could have been much larger if not for a recent court ruling. Waynesboro Circuit Court Judge Paul Dryer, after a hearing on the legal battles over certification, ruled Lilly and Vice Chair Scott Mares must certify the election. Read Article

Virginia: US Supreme Court allows purge of suspected noncitizen voters | Ann E. Marimow, Justin Jouvenal and Gregory S. Schneider/The Washington Post

A divided Supreme Court cleared the way Wednesday for Virginia officials to remove about 1,600 people from the state’s voter registration rolls less than one week before the presidential election. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) asked the justices to intervene after two lower courts blocked his efforts to cancel the registrations of voters who could be noncitizens — an issue Republican officials have seized on nationally even though noncitizen voting is extremely rare. Youngkin signed an order in August to expedite the removal of registered voters whose driver’s license applications indicated or suggested that they were not U.S. citizens. The effort was opposed by the Justice Department and civil rights groups, which said many being kicked off the rolls were actually eligible and were targeted because of outdated or erroneous information. Read Article

Virginia: Waynesboro Voters Sue to Ensure Election Officials Will Certify Election | Matt Cohen/Democracy Docket

Five voters in the city of Waynesboro, Virginia filed a lawsuit on Monday against the city’s Board of Elections Chairman Curtis Lilly and Vice Chairman Scott Mares to ensure they’ll certify the results of the upcoming election. The lawsuit comes after Lilly and Mares filed their own lawsuit saying that they will refuse to certify the upcoming general election unless the state’s policy prohibiting them from hand-counting ballots is changed. But the new lawsuit filed by the five Waynesboro voters argues that Lilly and Mares’ declaration to refuse to certify the election violates the Virginia Constitution and asks the court to order the Waynesboro Board of Elections to certify the election once the votes have been tabulated. Read Article

Virginia: A lawsuit targeting voting machines could spoil election | Marc Fisher/The Washington Post

In a small Virginia city of 22,000 souls, a three-hour drive southwest from D.C. through pastoral countryside, a mechanical engineer and a bed-and-breakfast owner, worried about democracy, decided their duty as Americans was to throw a wrench in the works of the presidential election. Curtis G. Lilly II, the engineer, and Scott Mares, the innkeeper, are volunteer members of Waynesboro’s Board of Elections. In that role, they have filed a lawsuit announcing that they will refuse to certify the November vote because they believe only hand-tallied paper ballots — not voting machines — satisfy the state constitution’s ban on counting votes “in secret.” If Lilly and Mares don’t fulfill their obligation to certify Waynesboro’s votes next month, does that mean the city’s ballots won’t get counted? Will that gum up Virginia’s overall count as well? Lilly and his lawyer say they don’t know; that’s for a judge to decide. Read Article

Virginia: Waynesboro election officials sue to require hand-count of ballots | Laura Vozzella/The Washington Post

Top Republican election officials in rural Waynesboro, Va., say they will refuse to certify the results of the Nov. 5 presidential election unless the city’s ballots are counted by hand, alleging in a lawsuit that voting machines could be secretly programmed to rig the outcome. Two members of the three-seat Board of Elections in Waynesboro, a small, red-leaning Shenandoah Valley city about 30 miles west of Charlottesville, contend in the suit that tallying ballots by machine amounts to counting them “in secret” — something prohibited by the state constitution. Read Article

Virginia Governor codifies election security measures that were already in place | Elizabeth Beyer/Staunton News Leader

In a largely symbolic move, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order on Wednesday to codify “election security measures” with the aim of protecting “legal voters and accurate counts” ahead of November’s hotly contested presidential election. Youngkin’s Executive Order 35 codifies the use of paper ballots in Virginia’s elections and ensures “non-citizens” are disqualified from voting. Those election security mechanisms are already in place in the commonwealth, however. Read Article

Virginia board considers ousting GOP election official accused of sharing voting machine info | Graham Moomaw/Virginia Mercury

Two members of the Charles City County Electoral Board have asked Virginia officials to begin the process of removing the third member of the board, who is accused of sharing sensitive election machine information with a local GOP leader. In a May 14 letter to the Virginia State Board of Elections, election officials in Charles City — a small community between Richmond and Williamsburg — formally requested the ouster of local Electoral Board Member Maria A. Kinney, a Republican who just joined the board in January. The cause listed in the request was “severe dereliction of duties,” including a claim Kinney allowed a former Charles City County GOP chair, Irene Churins, to view election equipment passwords during an accuracy test. Read Article

Virginia: Pending budget would prevent audit of presidential election results | Graham Moomaw/Virginia Mercury

Virginia conducts routine audits of elections, ensuring ballot and machine integrity, but recent budget language passed by the Democratic General Assembly eliminates such audits for the 2024 presidential contest, despite their requirement for some elections. Del. Mark Sickles clarified that the budget intends to prevent delays in certifying the election, especially after past concerns over litigation. This amendment stipulates that risk-limiting audits won’t be conducted for presidential elections, likely redirecting audit efforts to other contests like the U.S. Senate race or randomly selected U.S. House elections. The budget also extends the post-election timeline for local electoral boards to certify results, offering them more time to verify ballots and outcomes. While GOP lawmakers voiced objections, Governor Glenn Youngkin’s office emphasized restoring faith in elections, and despite Republican criticisms, there have been no widespread voter fraud cases in recent years. Read Article

Virginia county finds 4,000 misreported 2020 votes, shorting Biden | Julia Mueller/The Hill

Election officials in Virginia’s Prince William County have acknowledged that approximately 4,000 votes were misreported during the 2020 presidential election, with former President Trump incorrectly receiving 2,327 extra votes, and President Joe Biden being shorted 1,648 votes. The errors affected U.S. Senate candidates from both parties, and a Republican House candidate who won his race was shorted just under 300 votes. The misreporting issues were attributed to results tapes not being programmed in a compatible format for state reporting requirements, leading to errors during correction attempts. Read Article

Virginia county stumbles in the first election after its conspiracy-fueled staff exodus | Jane C. Timm/NBC

Buckingham County was the last Virginia locality to post unofficial tallies Wednesday morning, causing concern and frustration among voters and cndidates. The delay was attributed to difficulties in inputting results, according to a spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Elections. Earlier this year, baseless allegations of voter fraud led to the resignation of four election staff members and the hiring and subsequent firing of a replacement registrar, with Ginger Chiesa eventually taking over and working to restore confidence in the voting process. Despite smooth voting operations, the delay in reporting results left some feeling disheartened and concerned about potential controversy. “Of course I’m happy with it,” commented Paul Garrett, a candidate for the county Board of Supervisors. “But in the midst of all this stuff that’s going on now, it’s going to be another hotbed for controversy.” Read Article

A Virginia election chief says the ‘big lie’ ended her career. She’s fighting back. | Justin Jouvenal/The Washington Post

Christine Gibbons, a voting registrar in Virginia, faced harassment and allegations of fraud after the 2020 election. Accused of corruption and taken to court over baseless claims, Gibbons ultimately lost her position when the Republican-controlled board decided not to reappoint her. She filed a lawsuit, asserting that the board violated her First Amendment rights by removing her for partisan reasons. Legal experts suggest her case could set a precedent, as more election workers fight back against false allegations inspired by Trump’s claims of voter fraud. This comes amid a broader wave of election officials facing threats and intimidation, exacerbating a growing crisis in the profession. Reads Article

Virginia Senators urge DOJ to probe Governor’s ‘purge’ of voter rolls | Laura Vozzella/The Washington Post

Democratic Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia, along with the state’s six House Democrats, have called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate the removal of at least 270 eligible voters from Virginia’s rolls by the Youngkin administration. The senators assert that this action, termed a “purge,” may have affected thousands of voters, creating a significant barrier to the democratic process, especially considering the ongoing early voting for the November elections. The senators argue that these removals could be in violation of the Voting Rights Act and urge immediate action from the Justice Department to investigate and rectify the situation. Readd Article

Virginia election officials acknowledge voters mistakenly removed from rolls | Ben Paviour/VPM

The Virginia Department of Elections is working to resolve an issue that led to an undisclosed number of eligible voters being mistakenly removed from the state’s rolls. This development comes after reports revealed that individuals with probation violations lost their voting eligibility due to recent changes implemented by the department. The department is collaborating with the Virginia State Police to identify affected individuals and plans to reinstate their voting rights after verification. The issue appears to stem from efforts to remove individuals with restored voting rights who subsequently faced probation violations, mistakenly including them in the removal process. Critics argue that such errors should have been anticipated to avoid infringing on people’s constitutional rights. The situation has also reportedly deterred some Virginians from participating in early voting. Read Article

Virginia’s Buckingham County feels the toll of election denialism | Jane C. Timm/NBC

Few places have felt the effects of election denialism more than Buckingham County, Virginia. In January, Republicans gained control of the local electoral board and advanced baseless voter fraud claims targeting the work of the then-registrar, Lindsey Taylor, who had been running elections in the county since 2019 and considered herself nonpartisan. Taylor resigned in March as it became clear they wanted her gone. Two other staffers quit with her, following a deputy registrar who quit in February for the same reasons. The exodus of staff temporarily left the county without a functioning elections office. On April 12, Luis Gutierrez took over as the new registrar, quickly establishing himself in the community as a combative figure. That was no surprise to the office’s former occupants. Gutierrez had helped advance the baseless fraud claims that drove Taylor and her staff from their jobs. Read Article

Virginia: The battle between misinformation and election officials in Buckingham County | Fred Echols/WVTF

When the entire staff at the Buckingham County Registrar’s office resigned after repeatedly being accused of incompetence and even criminal mismanagement of the electoral process, the county drew national attention from those who say rampant misinformation may cause even more damage heading into a presidential election year. Buckingham County provided Virginia’s most extreme example – to date – of what can happen when election workers are overwhelmed by accusations of fraud. Lauren Coletta is senior advisor in Virginia for Common Cause. She says the immediate effect is that people with little or no elections experience find themselves trying to do a very demanding and very important job. “You had a registrar who was there for 29 years and then this next person was there since 2019, I believe, so she was getting her stride and now you’ve lost the staff,” Coletta explains. “So, this is a consequence of the disinformation that is going on.” But even after all this time, many people don’t see it as disinformation, something that Coletta finds puzzling. “Given all the court cases at the federal level, and in this particular case in Buckingham County; the Attorney General investigated, said there was nothing,” Coletta says. “How many times does something have to be disproven before people catch on that they’re being lied to?”

Full Article: The battle between misinformation and election officials in Buckingham County | WVTF

Virginia: Hounded by baseless voter fraud allegations, an entire county’s election staff quits | Jane C. Timm/NBC

Lindsey Taylor loved running elections here. The previous registrar had spent nearly three decades in the job, and Taylor, 37, hoped to do the same when she was hired in 2019. She loved her staff and the volunteer poll workers, and she took pride in the detail-oriented work. She implemented dozens of new laws in 2020, ran elections through the pandemic and impressed many in the rural, conservative, tight-knit community of Buckingham County. But then the voter fraud claims started. In January, the GOP assumed control of the Buckingham County Electoral Board that oversees her office, and local Republicans began advancing baseless voter fraud claims that baffled her. The electoral board made it clear it wanted her out of the job. “There were people saying that they had heard all these rumors — that the attorney general was going to indict me,” Taylor said, days after leaving the office for the last time. “Mentally, I just — I couldn’t take it anymore.” Three weeks ago, frustrated and heartbroken, Taylor, along with two part-time staffers, quit. Their resignations followed a deputy registrar who left in February, citing the same conflict. The four departures left residents without a functioning registrar’s office; there was no way to register to vote or certify candidate paperwork, at least temporarily.

Full Article: Amid baseless voter fraud claims, an entire county election staff quits

Virginia: Technical Problems In Voter Registration System Cause Delays In Processing Over 100,000 Voter Records | Margaret Barthel/DCist

A technical problem with Virginia’s statewide voter registration system has led to significant delays in the processing of new voter registrations and updates to existing ones. As a result of the delay, the commonwealth’s elections office sent a big batch of more than 100,000 voter records to local registrars to process, an unexpected volume of…

Virginia updates how it conducts risk-limiting audits for election results | Charlotte Rene Woods/Richmond Times-Dispatch

On Tuesday, the Virginia Board of Elections approved a new risk-limiting audit manual ahead of the general election this November. Though election officials were already conducting risk-limiting audits in Virginia, they are now going to happen before state election officials certify election results. That’s because the General Assembly passed legislation that repealed and replaced previous state code relating to the audits. Risk-limiting audits are “a type of post-election audit that utilizes statistical methods and a manual review of paper ballots to confirm that the voting equipment accurately reported the correct outcome of an election,” the manual reads. The audits analyze a random sample of hand-counted ballots to confirm election results along with using auditing software called Arlo. The process helps confirm that voting accurately reported election results. “Now it’s going to be done prior to the certification of the election, whereas before we did it in the months after the election,” said former elections commissioner Chris Piper. For instance, the most recent such audit took place this past January — two months after the 2021 elections — and analyzed the results of the 13th and 75th House of Delegates districts.

Full Article: Virginia updates how it conducts risk-limiting audits for election results

Virginia lawmakers punt on bills aimed at limiting partisan election oversight | Graham Moomaw/Virginia Mercury

Despite getting several extra months to negotiate, Virginia lawmakers went home for the summer without a deal on proposals to limit partisan influence in the state’s election bureaucracy. Legislation that would have removed the governor’s power to appoint the state elections commissioner and given the two major parties equal representation on the State Board of Elections effectively died for lack of a final vote. The General Assemly didn’t take up two pending bills on the topic when lawmakers met in Richmond this month to finish work on the state budget, which was supposed to be done in March. All the bills left unfinished are technically still alive because the General Assembly adjourned its special session to Sept. 7, a move explained as a way to take action later on an unfilled seat on the State Corporation Commission. But anything not approved at this point is effectively dead, said Garren Shipley, a spokesman for House of Delegates Speaker Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah. “The remaining conference reports, while they are still technically viable until the session adjourns sine die, are unlikely to move forward,” Shipley said. It’s unclear exactly what caused the talks to fail, but the state elections board flipped to Republican control during the negotiations due to the resignation of a Democratic member who had been appointed to a judgeship. While the bills were pending, Gov. Glenn Youngkin swapped out the state’s former elections commissioner, Chris Piper, for his own appointee, Susan Beals, a former Republican member of the Chesterfield County Electoral Board.

Full Article: Virginia lawmakers punt on bills aimed at limiting partisan election oversight – Virginia Mercury

Virginia administration faults effort to update elections data system | Gregory S. Schneider/The Washington Post

Full Article: Youngkin administration faults effort to update Virginia elections data system – The Washington Post

Virginia elections commissioner, who Youngkin is replacing, announces departure | Graham Moomaw/Virginia Mercury

Virginia elections Commissioner Chris Piper is leaving his post March 11 after Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration formally told him he won’t be reappointed to the job, according to an internal email Piper sent his agency Friday. Piper, an appointee of former Gov. Ralph Northam, said in the email he had agreed to stay on a few more weeks to “ensure a smooth transition.” “I am disappointed because I would like nothing more than to spend the next four years in this chair working hand in hand with each of you as we labor to restore the nation’s faith in our election process,” Piper said in an email to employees of the state Department of Elections. “However, I am comforted by the fact that I will be leaving this place in your hands.” Youngkin has not yet named a replacement for Piper. But Piper’s email notes Rachel Lawless, currently a confidential policy adviser in the department, “has been reappointed to her role and will continue to serve.” “My promise to each of you is that I will do everything in my power to make sure you are set up for nothing but success,” Piper said. “My loyalty has always been to you, the State Board, the general registrars, Electoral Board members, thousands of election officers, voters, and future voters of the commonwealth.”

Full Article: Virginia elections commissioner, who Youngkin is replacing, announces departure – Virginia Mercury

Virginia Governor says he intends to replace state’s top election official | Graham Moomaw/Virginia Mercury

Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Monday he plans to appoint someone new to serve as Virginia’s top election official when current Elections Commissioner Chris Piper’s four-year term expires this summer. The comment from Youngkin, made in an interview with Trump-supporting radio host John Fredericks, was the first clear indication from the new governor on what he has planned for the Virginia Department of Elections. In the interview, Fredericks asked Youngkin if he plans to “clean house” at the agency. “We in fact fully expect that when the current commissioner’s term is up that we will replace him,” Youngkin replied. “We have to make sure the leadership that’s in the Department of Elections is leadership that is looking out for the integrity of the election process and not trying to be political.” Youngkin’s comment drew a rebuke from current Board of Elections Chairman Bob Brink, a former Democratic delegate who said Piper has led the agency “through the extraordinary challenges of the past several years with unquestioned integrity and professionalism.” “Gov. Youngkin’s announcement that he plans to fire Chris without cause is a deeply troubling injection of politics into the administration of our elections,” Brink said in a written statement. “It is also a slap in the face to the thousands of local election workers across the commonwealth. Their nonpartisan efforts have produced efficient, accessible, secure and transparent elections that all Virginians can be proud of. Those workers and Virginia’s voters deserve better, as does Chris Piper.”

Full Article: Youngkin says he intends to replace Virginia’s top election official – Virginia Mercury

Virginia lawmaker who called for ‘martial law’ to steal election will run for Congress | Nick Vachon/The American Independent

On Wednesday morning, Virginia state Sen. Amanda Chase announced her campaign for the state’s 7th Congressional District. The district is currently represented by Democrat Abigail Spanberger, who beat incumbent Republican Dave Brat in 2018 to become the first Democrat elected to represent the district in more than 40 years. Chase, who once called herself “Trump in heels,” told the Washington Post Wednesday that her campaign will mirror that of Republican Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin, with a focus on the idea that “critical race theory” is being taught in Virginia schools and on ending vaccine and mask mandates. Chase has denied the existence of racism — except for “reverse racism” — because she had personally “never seen systemic racism or any of that.” Earlier this year, Chase earned bipartisan condemnation for supporting rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in an insurrection that left five people dead and hundreds injured. Chase has promoted former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from him. She once said Trump should impose “martial law” to prevent President Joe Biden from assuming office. Chase herself spoke at the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally that directly preceded the storming of the Capitol building. She also used campaign funds to attend the rally, and later called the insurrectionists “patriots who love their country.”

Full Article: VA lawmaker who called for ‘martial law’ to steal election will run for Congress

Virginia’s defenders of democracy ensure free, fair and secure elections | Chris Piper/Richmond Times-Dispatch

Full Article: Chris Piper column: Virginia’s defenders of democracy ensure free, fair and secure elections | Columnists | richmond.com