Fairfax County Virginia has had a practice that allowed those casting provisional ballots on election day to sign documentation allowing party or candidate organizations to allow them to represent the voter when the provisional was being considered. The state election board decided that this was in violation of its rules, and in fact, since a similar procedure was not being followed in all 134 jurisdictions in the Commonwealth, represented unequal treatment of ballots (which would be a violation of Bush v Gore). Thus on Friday the County was ordered not to allow anyone except the person who cast the provisional to advocate on their behalf. They could be advised, but they had to appear, and to speak on their own behalf.
While the Fairfax Board disagreed with this decision (by a 2-0-1 vote), they decided they had to abide by the instructions.
Originally the deadline for appearing was supposed to be yesterday. The Fairfax election folks decided that under the circumstances voters needed more time to come in - not having known that they would have to appear personally (which some were already doing) it would be unfair to cut off that opportunity yesterday.
Thus the offices will be open this afternoon, all day tomorrow, and at least until 1 PM on Tuesday (or one hour after the election folks return from the Courthouse, whichever is later), to make their presentations. Tuesday has to be the cutoff because that is the day by which all jurisdictions must certify their results to the state.
There are now 494 ballots in question.
And trust me, Fairfax Dems are all over this.
Please keep reading.
I am a member of the Veterans and Military Families Caucus of the Virginia Democratic Party. I received an email from Terron Sims, director, which included an email from Frank Anderson, executive director of the Fairfax Democratic party, which I am pasting below. It is important to note that on election day both the party and the Herring campaign were asking those casting provisionals if they wanted to be represented, so they have names and contact information for a significant number of provisional voters.
And they are doing outreach.
As a result, I think it possible that a strong majority of provisional ballots will eventually be considered. Fairfax voted 60-40 for Herring, although it is possible that a significant portion of those 494 could be military, and if officers that might skew more heavily towards Republicans than the general vote. Still, I expect the overall votes to break in Herring's favor.
Without Fairfax, the best estimation is that Herring has with all we know an 82 vote lead. There are a number of jurisdictions that have reported no provisionals, but some are so small they are likely to have none. And Fairfax by itself dwarfs the total population of those jurisdictions that have not yet reported, so Herring should maintain a lead even without Fairfax, which should pad his lead.
In other words, I expect when the vote is certified that Herring will be in the lead.
here is the letter from Sims (with the letter from Anderson embedded) - I am not reproducing the logo, but I have included the hot links (i have edited the email addresses and phone number):
Dear Friends,
I wanted to encourage you to work a shift (phones or canvass) in Fairfax on Sunday or Monday to help the Mark Herring campaign. This election is so close but we can pull it out. CALL THE PEOPLE YOU KNOW IN FAIRFAX!
The Fairfax Board of Elections (2R, 1D) decided on Friday that people needed to come down to the Fairfax County Government Building to fight to get their provisional ballot counted, whereas previously the Herring/FCDC lawyers were allowed to make the case for our provisional voters in absentia if they obtained written consent from the voter on election day. The deadline for voters to go before the Board was originally 5pm today, but at about 3pm that got extended to Tuesday afternoon at 1pm.
If you can help out with calls, details are below, but it's clear we can win this race after we clear this provisional ballot hurdle. If you can’t go, but know someone who lives in Fairfax, call them and ask if they know someone that voted with a provisional ballot and urge them to go before the Board. The lawyers will be there to help.
Also urge them to help or call their friends and ask them, too. You might have seen Ken Cuccinelli rooting Mark Obenshain on the other day by saying Obenshain would carry on his work. We’ve had enough of that kind of work!
Thanks & Regards……….?
From: Fairfax County Democrats
Date: Sat, Nov 9, 2013 at 5:17 PM
Subject: HTML SAMPLE: EMERGENCY Save The Vote activities now through Monday
To: xxxx
banner
Dear Democratic friends,
With the outcome of the Attorney General's race down to just a handful of votes, it is absolutely critical that we contact our voters who cast provisional ballots, to advocate for their votes to count.
The Fairfax County Board of Elections has extended the period during which they will consider provisional ballots until Tuesday. As a result, we will be organizing canvasses and phone banks to track down these voters! We are also seeking more volunteers to meet the voters as they appear at the Office of Elections.
The State Board of Elections just ruled yesterday that our voter protection advocates cannot represent the provisional voter unless the voter is present at the Electoral Board office. Because of this decision, we are taking the unprecedented step of tracking down provisional voters and urging them to go to the Office of Elections to save their vote!
Click here to sign up for a canvass or phone bank Sunday, Monday or Tuesday.
Canvass shifts launch from the Fairfax County Democratic Committee Headquarters at 2815 Hartland Rd. Suite 110, Falls Church, VA 22043.
Canvass shifts:
Sunday 12pm
Sunday 2pm
Sunday 4pm
Monday 9am
Monday 11pm
Monday 1pm
Tuesday 9am
Tuesday 11am
Phone banks will also continue at FCDC Headquarters today through Tuesday morning.
Click here to volunteer at the Fairfax County Government Center and assist provisional voters These volunteers will meet the provisional voters as they arrive, and connect them with a Voter Protection advocate before they go in to the Board meeting.
Point of contact at the Government Center: Stephen Spitz (202) xxx-xxxx
We need at least three people there at all times. The Government Center address is:
12000 Government Center Parkway
Fairfax, VA 22035
If you're available, please sign up to help. Your efforts could make the difference in whether or not we win the Attorney General's race.
Thanks,
Frank Anderson
Executive Director
Fairfax County Democratic Committee