The Charlottesville Commonwealth's Attorney Office is currently investigating the third-party group Organizing for America after it allegedly failed to submit voter registration forms on time, preventing 147 Virginians from taking part in the March 6 state primary.
Organizing for America could face a class one misdemeanor for its late submission of the forms. Class one misdemeanors can carry up to 12 months jail time, and up to a $2500 fine.
The Democratic National Committee created Organizing for America in 2009 to mobilize support for Barack Obama's reelection.
The Virginia code 24.2-10002.01 requires third-party groups such as Organizing for America to submit voter registration forms within 15 days of when voters signed them, or when the registration books close, whichever is sooner.
The group held a voter registration drive at the end of January, using blank applications provided by the Board of Elections.
Organizing For America's voter registration books closed Feb. 13, but the Charlottesville Office of Voter Registration did not receive its forms until Feb. 21, Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta said.
In addition to the third-party stipulations, the deadline for voter registration for the Virginia primary was Feb. 13. This early submission date allows for forms to be processed in the period between registration and election.
Iachetta said she believed Organizing for America had been previously briefed on the stipulations of the code.
"We ask third-party groups, when they want applications, [to] sit down and go through an hour info session that [explains] the do's and the don't's of the process," Iachetta said. "We don't let people get applications from us unless they sit through this info session."
Geoff Skelley, the spokesperson for the University's Center for Politics, said the tight regulations are designed to ensure voter eligibility.
"The rules are likely in place to make sure that organizations
must promptly turn over the personal information enclosed on voter registration forms," Skelley said. "Also, as we see in this case, the quicker the turnaround on submitting these forms, the quicker someone is eligible to vote."
Iachetta said it was unfortunate the 147 individuals would have to suffer because of Organizing for America's failure.
"What happens is, when these groups don't take the responsibility seriously, it disenfranchises the people [who] put their faith and trust that forms will be turned into the appropriate person at the appropriate time," Iachetta said.
James Nix, co-chair of the Charlottesville Democratic Committee, said students should learn about third-party groups before relying on them to turn in forms.
"Know who it is you're giving forms to," Nix said. "You have to give your social security number and that's essential - you have to trust that person and they have to provide a receipt. Anybody who takes a registrar form from you has to give a receipt with how to contact them and how to contact the registrar of voters."
Nix worked with Organizing for America in 2008.
"I can tell you I took hundreds of voters' registration forms to the registrar's office [working with Organizing for America], so there are a lot of people working locally who know how to do this right," Nix said. "They have to know the rules and help people get registered and save a lot of trouble."
Multiple third-party organizations have encountered similar problems in previous election years, Iachetta said.
"I've been here 12 years and it usually happens every presidential election year - in 2008, we had the same thing happen with third-party groups," Iachetta said.
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