Op/Ed by Del. Tim Hugo (R-Fairfax)
Last Thursday, a joint meeting of the House and Senate Privileges and Elections Committees convened to hear concerns regarding the Virginia electoral process directed by the State Board of Elections (SBE) and the Department of Elections (DOE).
The current Commissioner of Elections, Edgardo Cortes, attempted to defend the efforts of the DOE and the SBE.
Yet, what the House and Senate Committees heard was appalling.
The SBE/DOE sent voter registration information, with return postage paid, to felons who had completed their sentences BUT TO NO ONE ELSE, NOT to any other Virginians. Why was this one group of Virginians selected for special treatment?
Registrars from across Virginia expressed concerns regarding the Virginia Election and Registration Information System (VERIS). Cortes repeatedly downplayed these bipartisan concerns.   Yet, on Monday, October 17, the last day to register to vote in Virginia, the VERIS system was down. Virginians could not check their registration status, could not register to vote, and, applying for an absentee ballot was also interrupted.
One voter wrote to me that they had already voted absentee but when they checked their status, it said “record not found.†Another voter told me that they looked up their voter registration information only to have VERIS tell them that the system was down AND when they were able to look up their name, it also told them “NO RECORD FOUND.â€
Wouldn’t that make you worried about whether you were registered or not? This voter called their local registrar’s office and it took that office 6 minutes to access the system.
The committee heard about regulations (proposed by Cortes’ office) whose legality were questioned by many. These proposed regulations were  (1) initially met with great resistance from registrars in an announced public hearing, (2) subsequently pulled when the public outcry became too loud, and (3) later shamefully snuck through with minimal notice to the lament of the many faithful registrars that must now implement these flawed guidelines.
We heard about the situation at JMU where deceased people were being registered to vote and in Sussex County where deceased people were actually recorded as voting.
And, possibly worst of all, the General Registrar of Fairfax County, testified that the voting regulations coming from Richmond did not comply with the law as passed by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor.
At that point in the hearing, I called for the Governor to fire Commissioner of Elections Edgardo Cortes. He is incompetent and partisan.
If Virginians do not have faith in the competence, accuracy, and fairness of the election process, it is a threat to our democracy.  Democrats will say that Republicans stole every election, and, Republicans will say that Democrats stole every election.  It will be a sad spiral downward.
For the good of all current and future candidates, Democrats and Republicans, winners and losers, to preserve the citizens’ faith in the electoral process in Virginia, Governor McAuliffe needs to replace the current Commissioner of Elections with a competent and non-partisan leader. If not, Governor McAuliffe will join Edgardo Cortes in failing Virginia’s voters.
21 comments
This scumbag is back in the news today.
[…] the integrity of Virginia’s elections process have been brought to the forefront this year by spectacular miscues from the state’s Commissioner of Elections, Edgardo Cortes. Cortes is an associate and […]
All one needs to do is look this guy up and know that he’s a fraud. The name alone is an alarm bell, not to mention he was ordained by a crooked Virginia Democrat Governor. Also, what is the CURRENT status of having this guy FIRED?
… https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8140b9e221a96888d44d550d9b220b0f578f1e4787d8d3e58c8cb0d412125ca1.jpg
Two words: Cameron Quinn
Cameron Quinn what?
Cameron Quinn, a Republican, was secretary to the State Board of Elections and later the General Registrar in Fairfax County where she resigned at the end of her first 4-year-term. Here’s a WashPost article about her resignation:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/head-of-troubled-fairfax-elections-office-steps-down/2015/06/30/37bb854e-1f3d-11e5-aeb9-a411a84c9d55_story.html
Read the article, read the comments on the article, and make your own conclusions as to why she resigned. Why she is relevant to this discussion, I don’t know.
The Macker knows what he is doing – following the way the political machine operates where he comes from. Carpetbagger. What do you expect? As for Cortes, he is a thug. What happened to our state?
,,..
City of Alexandria Stonewalling Investigation Into Illegally Registered Voters
The Public Interest Legal Foundation, an Indiana-based law firm that litigates to protect election integrity, filed a lawsuit in April against the city of Alexandria on behalf of the Virginia Voters Alliance, a group dedicated to improving election laws. The groups contended that voter rolls in Alexandria have for years contained more registrants than people of voting age in the city.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d5e80b6f7e6e0dcb1d9e88347492c4fa3342ec0b0c002646b1edb4ddd5d67938.jpg
Prince William County has substantial cases of voter fraud – proven, not an assumption. But no one would investigate the fraud. They preferred to investigate those who discovered the fraud instead. There are those who want voter fraud because it swings elections their way. Unfortunately, to them, winning is far more important than integrity. If they can’t win legally, they’ll do it fraudulently.
DEMOCRATS are what happened to our state!
Perhaps the fact that the REPUBLICAN controlled General Assembly cut $7.1 million from the State Board of Elections budget had something to do with the problems VERIS is experiencing.
I am a member of my county’s electoral board. In response to demands for more transparency and in the interest of “self-service,” people now are able to go online to the SBE system — VERIS — and check their own registration. Our county registrar is tearing her hair out because people whose registration is up-to-date are going into VERIS, checking their registration, then, re-registering although there’s no need for them to do so, thereby bogging down the system
Also, absentee voting is running ahead of previous years. In my county, we are about 20% ahead of where we have ever been in terms of absentee voting. Half of these are applications submitted online — through VERIS — further slowing down the system.
There were plans for VERIS upgrades but those plans were put on the shelf when the General Assembly — on party line vote — cut $7.1 million from the SBE budget. Furthermore, that budget cut caused SBE to lay off a few people.
It’s interesting to note the State Senator Jill Holtzman-Vogel — a REPUBLICAN — has asked the SBE budget be restored with extra money to upgrade VERIS. Her republican colleagues — you included — have turned her down.
As for dead people voting . . . I doubt it. I don’t know the details of the Sussex County claims, however, I do know that back in 2012 when a member of the SC legislature claimed over 600 dead people voted throughout the state, a check of every person by name turned up that NOT ONE SINGLE DEAD PERSON VOTED. Every case was mistaken identity, two people with the same name but in different parts of the state, or clerical error.
Well, they seemed to have the money for the post-paid return envelopes, now didn’t they? Why don’t law abiding Virginians get postage paid envelopes?
The story about sending info to former felons is a distraction. In the first place I have seen no proof that this happened . . . and the word of a delegate with an obvious ax to grind is not sufficient.
Let’s look into this more deeply since you ask about law abiding Virginians.
Exactly what contact do law abiding Virginians have with the State Board of Elections? NOT MUCH: register to vote; update registration; vote absentee.
If you register to vote, you do that either (1) online, or (2) at DMV, or, (3) at your local registrar’s office, or, (4) at a third-party registration drive. In either case, there is NO COST TO YOU, not even for postage. If you use any of these four methods, your registration card is mailed to you once your registration is completed — you haven’t spent a penny in postage.
If you update your registration, the same applies . . . doesn’t cost you a penny in postage.
If you apply to vote absentee, you do that either (1) fill out the form at the registrar’s office, or, (2) request an absentee ballot online. If you request an absentee ballot in person, you either (1) vote on the spot in the registrar’s office, or, (2) the registrar gives you a mail-in packet COMPLETE WITH POSTAGE PAID ENVELOPE for your use in returning your ballot. If you request an absentee ballot online, you are mailed a packet COMPLETE WITH POSTAGE PAID RETURN ENVELOPE.
Delegate Hugo’s article reminds me of these chain emails that we all receive warning us THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END, FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. His article is uninformed, partisan bullshit.
I moved back to Virginia nine years ago and have been deeply involved in my county’s electoral process since then, first as an Officer of Election, a Precinct Chief, now as a member of the Electoral Board.. I deal with uninformed people like Hugo and you every day.
The previous writer was obviously not at the hearing. Cortes admitted to sending paid-postage return envelopes to felons at the hearing. The other issues were also widely discussed at the five-hour hearing. See the news articles below:
Regarding the paid-postage to felons: http://www.dailypress.com/news/politics/dp-nws-elections-virginia-20161013-story.html
Additional info: http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/article_159c3b7e-5d58-5aa5-a398-f28d8f455fec.html
Fine. So — postage paid envelopes were sent. As I explained above, so what?
Do you own one or more vehicles? Do you have Virginia license tags on those vehicles? Do you renew those tags online, or, through the mail? DMV sends your renewal information to you COMPLETE WITH A POSTAGE PAID ENVELOPE.
When a state office sends you something requiring a response, it’s normal for them to provide you with a postage paid envelope.
Nothing to see here.
The point was that postage paid envelopes were sent only to felons, and to no one else.. Trying to claim that this never happened (or is just routine) is absurd. I would imagine that you also believe that we have never had a single instance of dead people or non-citzens voting in our elections, too.
If you are indeed a member of the Electoral Board, you would know that felons are not entitled to vote in the Commonwealth of Virginia, except in special instances where the Governor restores those rights on an individual basis. McAuliffe illegally tried to do a mass restoration of those rights through an Executive Order, but was shut down by the courts. He is still attempting to restore the voting rights of every single felon, including fugitives and some who are still in jail. He is clearly trying to drum up more Democratic voters before the election, and legalities be damned.
As a member of the Electoral Board, you are supposed to be non-partisan. Your comments here make me believe you may be incapable of achieving that goal.
Only the ballot envelope is postage paid. If you want to register by mail, or request an absentee ballot by mail, you have to pay for the postage – umless you’re a felon, that is. You made the convenient but false assumption that everyone owns a computer and a car.
Justifying bad behavior – and accusing a Delegate of lying without any evidence of such – makes you look small. Your habit of writing REPUBLICAN in all capital letters (and your comments) tell me that you are a Democrat instead of a non-partisan member of the Electoral Board.
I have met Edgardo Cortes and he should be removed as Commissioner of Elections. His job is to ensure fairness in the electoral process, but his goal is the election of Democrats through means that are legal or illegal. If he were a partisan Republican, I would feel the same way. The Commissioner of Elections should do his job without his personal party preference interfering at all. Cortes is either incapable or unwilling to do his job in that manner.
Just because you’re a member of a county’s electoral board doesn’t mean you know jack sh*t! But then too you’re probably just a crook, liar and cheat like the rest of them. No sane, decent, common sense person would EVER vote for today’s democrat!
Mail-in absentee ballots do NOT come with a postage paid envelope. My college student daughter (like most young adults these days) does not keep postage stamps on hand, so tracking down a stamp was quite an inconvenience. But with the limits on funding for the Board of Elections, I’d rather they fund upgrades to the online system instead of pre-paid postage.