The testy race for the 28th District House seat’s Republican primary nomination is about to get a little more heated. Susan Stimpson plans to file a lawsuit in Stafford County Circuit Court on Wednesday to block an absentee voter application process she claims gives her opponent, House Speaker Bill Howell, an unfair advantage in the race. “I am filing this lawsuit … on the principle of it,” she said Tuesday. “There’s no other path.” The lawsuit, prepared by Lynchburg attorney Rick Boyer, states that the state Board of Elections “acted arbitrarily and capriciously,” overstepped its authority and “took the regulatory action without meeting any of the notice requirements imposed by the Virginia Administrative Code.” The lawsuit adds that the board’s “action enabled Howell to plan, create, and produce a website dedicated to generating absentee ballot applications with electronic signatures.”
… Edgardo Cortés, the state’s Department of Elections commissioner, said in an email Tuesday that notice of the “clarification” was sent “to all general registrars and electoral board members in the state informing them of the Board action and notification was provided to the state Democratic and Republican parties.”
In a Monday email to Republican House caucus members, Del. Gregory D. Habeeb said, “To be perfectly clear, at no point did the Speaker’s campaign or the caucus request the Board to make any policy changes. This was the culmination of a months long effort to determine how existing law would be applied to absentee ballot applications moving forward and to clear up some apparent confusion.”
Full Article: Stimpson to file suit against ‘unfair’ absentee ballot process – Fredericksburg.com: Politics.