Republican election officials are threatening not to certify the election results in Waynesboro unless the ballots are hand-counted.
An election lawsuit is likely to get a ruling ahead of Election Day, but questions remain about whether Republicans involved will certify the results of the election in Waynesboro.
The judge seems to be planning to make a ruling before Election Day but hasn’t given a specific date, according to John Powers, director of the power and democracy program at the liberal nonprofit Advancement Project and co-counsel on the case.
The case involves two Republican Waynesboro Board of Elections members, Curtis Lilly and Scott Mares, advancing the conspiracy theory that electronic vote counting machines can’t be trusted. They are asking a judge to require a hand-counting of the ballots in Waynesboro. Every locality in Virginia has a three-person Board of Elections.
Neither Lilly nor Mares have produced any evidence of problems in Waynesboro elections in the past, and both admit they’ve certified the results of many elections in the past, Powers said.
“Their concern is based on unsupported speculation and fears about the accuracy of voting machines,” Powers said.
With just days until Election Day, it’s unclear what impact there would be if Waynesboro fails to certify its election results.
Virginia localities will have until Nov. 15 to certify their elections, which is a change from previous years. A law that went into effect this year extended the post-Election Day vote counting process from one week following Election Day to 10 days.
“Most concerning is that there could be delays in Virginia’s votes in the presidential election being transmitted to the Electoral College, Congress refusing to seat Virginia’s federal representative from the impacted district, and the increased risk of litigation,” Powers said.
