BREAKING: Virginia Election Official Sends Multiple Absentee Ballots to 7,400 Households
The same registrar was also taken to court for improper actions on candidate filings.
What recourse do citizens have when a voter registrar makes decisions that may violate law or jeopardize election outcomes? The only answer is to hire a lawyer and spend thousands of dollars to file an injunction with the courts—as one person recently did in Virginia Beach.
Virginia no longer has an election day; it has an election season. Voters get 45 days of early voting plus absentee voting—without an ID requirement. Even before the first ballots were mailed, problems arose with the registrar: the qualification of a candidate was challenged in court and unrelated to that challenge and the wrong ballots were sent to over 7,400 households in Virginia Beach. One media report indicates the registrar “emailed” updated ballots—which would be illegal.
School Board Candidate Fights for Election Integrity
School board candidate, Mark Bohenstiel, decided to take a stand for election integrity. Bohenstiel noticed that his opponent didn’t properly complete his candidate paperwork per the regulations set by the board of elections. In response, Bohenstiel filed a complaint with the Virginia Beach electoral board, but they didn’t respond. So, he filed an emergency injunction in court alleging that the Virginia Beach voter registrar wrongly certified his opponent, John Sutton, to be on the ballot and his name should be removed.
Virginia law and regulations require each local candidate to collect 125 signatures of qualified voters in their district as one measure to qualify for the ballot. Those signatures must be witnessed by a “circulator” who gathers the signatures on candidate petitions. The circulator must then complete and sign an affidavit in front of a notary stating they witnessed each signature on the petitions.
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On every one of John Sutton’s petitions, the notary’s signature was dated at least two weeks after the date of the circulator’s signature. In court, an affidavit was presented by one of the notaries stating the signatures were not completed in the presence of the notary and that the circulator’s signatures were not witnessed by the notary.
Virginia code 1VAC20-50-20 is clear that it’s a material omission if the “circulator has not signed the petition he circulated in the presence of a notary” and those petitions containing the material omission should be rendered invalid. Why did the registrar certify the petitions when it was clear by the signature dates that they all violated this provision?
During the court hearings against the registrar, John Sutton took the witness stand. Court transcripts reveal that Sutton changed his testimony multiple times. Sutton told the plaintiff’s attorney three times under oath that he signed the petitions as a circulator on the dates of circulation—which was weeks prior to when the notary signed. Under cross examination, Sutton’s attorney asked him the same questions and he gave different answers.
The judge noticed these discrepancies and directly questioned Sutton, asking why he changed his answers. Sutton’s response was that he was nervous and didn’t understand the question.
Ultimately the judge didn’t permit the emergency injunction but did order the case to go to trial before the election. The same day, John Sutton withdrew his name from the ballot.
The key issue here is that the plaintiff had the resources to fight this in court, but most everyday Americans wouldn’t have this ability. Voter registrars who don’t follow the law and regulations must be held accountable.
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Registrar Sends Thousands of Voters Two Absentee Ballots—By Email?
On Sept. 19th, we learned that the Virginia Beach voter registrar’s office mailed incorrect absentee ballots to 7,400 households in three different districts across Virginia Beach. Since it was households, rather than individual voters, that could mean that well over 7,400 incorrect ballots were mailed. It is the duty of the voter registrar and the department of elections to proof the ballots before distribution.
According to the department of elections they sent an updated ballot later to the same households, so now those voters have two ballots. The City of Virginia Beach’s website gives FAQs indicating that ballots returned with the incorrect information will still be counted.
A local news station, WTKR, initially reported the registrar was emailing the updated ballots to voters—which would be against the law. So, local attorney and former member of the Virginia House of Delegates Tim Anderson sent an open records request on Sept. 23 to the registrar asking for all communications regarding emailed ballots. Mr. Anderson told Restoration News that the City of Virginia Beach requested an extension to gather the records.
WTKR has updated their story to indicate that the registrar now says the ballots were mailed rather than emailed. Attorney Anderson questions why the registrar needs an extension on his records request if there are no documents pertaining to emailed ballots? Whether the ballots were mailed or emailed, it’s still a huge problem.
The registrar’s mistake involves candidates being placed in the wrong order on the ballot. Election rules dictate that the first candidate to turn in their paperwork to qualify for the ballot gets their name listed first. In down-ballot races such as school board and city council, this could impact outcomes since there’s an advantage to having the first spot on the ballot. If the Department of Elections accepts the first incorrect ballot, they are going to have court challenges to those ballots after the election. Worse, what happens if both ballots are returned?
Restoration News spoke to one of the Virginia Beach city council candidates impacted by the registrar’s mistake. This candidate worked diligently to be the first candidate to turn in paperwork to qualify for the ballot to be listed at the top. This candidate is very concerned that the registrar’s decision to accept the incorrect ballots from voters could negatively impact the outcome of the race.
Citizens shouldn’t be forced to spend tens of thousands of dollars in court to enforce laws. Hopefully the Virginia Governor, who appoints the members of the State Board of Elections and the Commissioner of Elections, is asking questions. The state legislature should also demand better oversight and accountability of local registrars and electoral boards.
(READ MORE: Madison, a Center of “Election Excellence,” Mails 2,000 Duplicate Ballots—Then Slowboats Investigators)
