GOOD FAITH MERIT
The Virginia Department of Elections refused a 10-Day grace or Jurisdiction for Appeal after discovery to the arbitrary recordation of 340 blank signatures from a Freedom of Information Act request:
On June 17, 2024, one (1) day before the deadline to submit, I hand delivered 1,166 Petition of Qualified Voters signatures to Richmond, which is well above the required 1,000 for my name to be printed on the Ballot as an Independent.
On July 13, 2024, I received an undated letter from the Department of Elections that stated merely 3/5 (599) of the required signatures qualified. I had called earlier in the week and was told the number was 633. There was not much detail on the surface of this letter with how to Appeal, though I had read about the 5-day deadline to do so.
Discouraged by all this, I presumed the Canvassers that I hired did not follow instructions to ask every signer if they were registered voters in our 8th Congressional District. Most people were approached from the Fresh Farm Market at Courthouse. 455 of these signatures were obtained by myself, to include going door-to-door.
Merely 15 working days passed and wondered to check my discouraged presumption, to also see if there was any possibility for mistakes on behalf of the Department of Elections. The limited detail of the above letter, the differing verbal and written disclosure of qualified signatures and the fact that the letter was undated, were all questionable. On August 1, 2024, I communicated with the Department [ea@] and was instructed to mail a letter of Appeal and did so by August 3, 2024. Note that this is when the Department first advised me of 1VAC20-50-30. Two (2) weeks later on August 16, 2024, I received (this link will be further referenced herein as “Appeal X“) receipt for my letter by FOIA@, receiving a week prior and that it would take another week to provide a response, among "limited availability and present work demands".
On August 19, 2024, per Appeal X, I received response from the Department [FOIA@] with (2) attachments pertaining to process and procedure of validating signatures with large portions being redacted, per VA code. No Appeal hearing had been mentioned. A spreadsheet listing recordation of 1,144 signatures, different from my final count of 1,166, was also received (I’ve redacted the provided example’s names for privacy consideration). 640 signatures had the status of "Accepted", which was again different than 599 from the above undated letter and once more different from the verbal of 633.
Of the 61 page spreadsheet, other statuses included: Research (28); Cannot Identify (26); Not Registered (70); Registered Not Qualified (17); Info Mismatch (8); Illegible (4); Duplicate (11); and most striking is Blank (340).
As anyone can plainly see by this example, some entries recorded blank names and blank columns with different statuses for the same. Another reply was forwarded [by FOIA@ to ea@] on August 21, 2024. This was all discerning.
As these implicated deficiencies suggest impropriety on behalf of the Virginia Department of Elections, my stipulation is to recount my original submission of claimed 1,166, discount statuses that are Not Registered or Duplicates, by review of all other statuses, per 1VAC20-50-30(G.)(4.). Among these time-sensitive matters, my interpretation is that such Affidavit(s) could be attested from myself, since there are no reasonable means otherwise as most signatures were obtained in public space from the aforementioned Farmer’s Market.
On August 29, 2024, after a few more email exchanges, per Appeal X, with inclusion of the above one-page screenshot to prove example of the abstruse labeling of statuses and blank columns, I was told:
“Pursuant to 1VAC20-50-30 of the Administrative Code of Virginia, of which you acknowledge awareness as of August 1, a request for appeal of insufficiency of signatures must meet the following initial requirements to be scheduled for a hearing with the State Board of Elections:
be received within 5 days of the issuance of the notice of disqualification; (this notice was undated, post-marked July 11, 2024, received July 13, 2024, and omitted viable instructions, specifically 1VAC20-50-30)
be in writing;
be notarized; and
be sent via mail, email, or fax. (as noted above, I was initially instructed to mail, which letter was re-dated, notarized and emailed on August 30, 2024)
As of today, you have not satisfied these requirements and, therefore, the State Board does not have jurisdiction to hear your appeal.“
The further grievance is that my judgement may not have concluded the presumption that my Canvassers failed if 1VAC20-50-30 was properly disclosed on the limited-in-detail, undated letter, that I received on July 13, 2024, to question the Department's process, lest be the unwiser?
The Virginia Department of Elections’ complicity, due to limited or unknowledgeable staff, partial instructions, other Administrative inconsistencies such as software or another unknown reason, could be determined beyond a reasonable doubt from the undated letter, the omission of 1VAC20-50-30, recordation of 340 “Blank” signature entries and post factum assistance by further stretching out time to obscure impropriety or negligence. The position is to still be granted an Appeal hearing from all these circumstances.
As this matter proceeds and is yet to be concluded, my intent for amicable resolve for any matter has not waivered. Whether this is to be elected as a Write-In, or because my name is printed on the Ballot, my standings still have not conceded.
*Now of course learning from this experience, would be to start early as possible (January 1), go door-to-door entirely and incrementally submit signatures for validation prior to the Deadline. For Party Candidates, the date is much earlier by April than it is for Independents, which is in June.