A retired judge from Loudon County granted a motion this week requiring the Registrar of Prince William County to use Republican assistants in the upcoming elections.
Virginia law requires that a chief and assistant chief in each precinct be from different political parties, but the registrar had allegedly assigned people without regard to that requirement.
“No one is above the law, and the Prince William County Elections Office violated state law by denying Republicans equal opportunity to participate in the electoral process,” said Rich Anderson, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, in a statement.
Judge Thomas Horne ruled on Nov. 1 that the Prince William County Elections Office may not exclude Republicans from both chief and assistant chief positions in any precinct.
“That means that where there were non-affiliated officers proposed and we had people who were available to serve, that our person will be filling those roles ...
“And in situations where we disagreed with the characterization of somebody as a Republican election officer, that they will be replaced by someone who is acceptable to us,” Denny Daugherty, chair of the Prince William County GOP Committee, told The Epoch Times.
Prince William County is home to the largest concentration of voters in the state’s 7th Congressional District, which is represented by Democrat incumbent Abigail Spanberger.
Yesli Vega, a law enforcement officer, is out to unseat Spanberger with the endorsement of Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R).
Rich Anderson, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia. Courtesy of Rich Anderson
Nov. 1’s hearing was on a motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and an order requiring the registrar to use Republican assistants because some officers the elections board had designated as “Republican” had not been nominated by the GOP.
The complaint, filed in the Prince William County 31st District Circuit Court, alleged eight instances in which the county GOP committee was asking for a person to be replaced because individuals whom the registrar had assigned as Republicans had allegedly voted as Democrats in prior primary elections.
The order will require that those designations be corrected.
“The Republican Party believes that to be fair, honest, and open, elections must be conducted following every rule in place,” Anderson stated.
“The Code of Virginia sets out clear rules about the appointment of officers of election representing the political parties.”
