Last week, the Republican Party of Virginia reported that duplicate absentee ballots have been sent to voters from several locations in Virginia, sparking concerns that election results in Virginia could be compromised. In a press release, the RPV stated that there have been reports of duplicate ballots in Fairfax, Virginia Beach, Henrico, Chesterfield and Petersburg, though Petersburg Registrar Dawn Williams denied that any duplicate applications were mailed to Petersburg residents.
RPV Communications Director Gerry Scimeca said such a glitch could have a significant impact on the election in the commonwealth.
“If you have more ballots than actual voters circulating, [there is a] possibility of tainting the outcome,” he said.
Scimeca said the RPV recommends that officials from the counties that sent out duplicate ballots not count the absentee ballots they receive until the deadline to turn in absentee ballots has passed on Election Day. Then, if any voter has turned in more than one ballot, Scimeca said the State Board of Elections should set guidelines to help registrars determine the best course of action, whether it be contacting the voter or perhaps the voter’s witness.
Susan Pollard, Virginia State Board of Elections director of communications, said the SBE is currently investigating the cause of this error, adding that it is most likely because of a processing issue rather than a problem with the electronic system.
“This is very serious,” Pollard said, “but voters need to be reassured that the Virginia Election and Registration [Information] System does have safeguards built in to not allow more than one ballot to be counted [per person].”
Pollard urged anyone who receives a duplicate ballot to contact his registrar.
“If there is an issue in processing, it needs to be reviewed and it needs to be remedied,” she said.
Scimeca also suggested notifying the registrar, but said he believes it is more important that the duplicate ballot is destroyed.
“Rip it up, throw it away,” he said. “It’s really no good and having it out there can only hurt you.”
Though the Republican Party of Virginia has expressed concern about this issue in the past week, the Democratic Party of Virginia is not worried, DPV communications director Jared Leopold said, adding that the State Board of Elections appears to be managing the situation.
“I think it was a small glitch in the system,” Leopold said, “and it appears to be under control.”
Richard Sincere, chair of the Charlottesville electoral board, said he has not encountered this problem before but noted “generally if a mistake like this is made, voters are honest enough to return only one ballot.”
Sincere added that Charlottesville has a number of procedures in place to ensure that serious errors do not occur. If the integrity of ballots was called into question, Sincere said, the person counting the ballots could compare signatures or check with the witness to determine whether a vote was cast in the proper manner.
“We expect voters to be honest about this sort of thing, but if they do try to vote twice, that’s criminal fraud and a felony,” Sincere said. “If a complaint is made, that can be turned over to the commonwealth attorney.”
The Cavalier Daily attempted to contact officials from Fairfax, Virginia Beach, Henrico and Chesterfield for comment. A Henrico official declined to comment on the situation, while representatives from the other regions did not respond to requests for on-the-record comment.
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