Rogue Stafford County Registrar Goes “Into Hiding,” Takes Down Twitter and Facebook Accounts & On Veterans Day, VA Dems Decry Stafford County Electoral Board Refusal to Count Military Ballots, Release Provisional Ballots List 11&10NOV17

SINKING to a new low in Virginia politics after the election on 7 NOV 17 and insulting the sacrifice US Military members make to guarantee our right to vote the Stafford County registrar greg riddlemoser r is hiding from the wrath of Virginia voters since his decision to refuse to count absentee ballots sent by Virginia members of the US Military. Be sure to listen to the opinions of former military members who are now members of the Virginia House of Delegates and delegates-elect  as  they condemn the Stafford County registrar and call on Stafford County and the Commonwealth of Virginia to make sure these votes are counted. IT IS ALSO IMPORTANT TO NOTE NOBODY KNOWS WHO THESE VOTES WILL GO TO, but it is the Democratic Party of Virginia who is fighting to get these votes counted so the outcome of the House of Delegate race in Stafford County can be determined.

Rogue Stafford County Registrar Goes “Into Hiding,” Takes Down Twitter and Facebook Accounts

By

 lowkell

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 November 11, 2017

Earlier today, DPVA Vice Chair for Rules Marc Broklawski posted: “If anyone knows the whereabouts of Greg Riddlemoser, Stafford County Registrar, let me know. Instead of making sure that any service members ballots are counted and providing the provisional ballot logs that he’s now (and previously) been directed to provide (and all other localities have provided), he has decided to go into hiding. Why is Greg going to such lengths if he has nothing to hide? If he refuses to fulfill his duties, the Electoral Board should fire him and get someone that will. This is ridiculous. This is how I’ve been spending the last 72 hours.” Meanwhile, as you can see below, people have been pounding the Stafford County Registrar’s Twitter account, demanding that the military ballots be counted. The response of Stafford County’s (Republican) Registrar?  Apparently, to not just “go into hiding” but to take down the Registrar’s Office’s social media accounts. See below…crazy, huh?  For a lot more detail on this story, click here.

On Veterans Day, VA Dems Decry Stafford County Electoral Board Refusal to Count Military Ballots, Release Provisional Ballots List

Stafford County, VA Elections Officials Refuse to Count Military Ballots

By

 lowkell

 -

 November 10, 2017 

I just got off a call (audio below) with Democratic veterans Delegate John Bell, Delegate Marcus Simon, Delegate-elect Lee Carter and Delegate-elect David Reid, along with DPVA Chairwoman Susan Swecker; Chair of the Veterans and Military Families Caucus of the DPVA Terron Sims; and veteran Carlos Del Toro in calling for Gloria Chittum and Marie Gozzi of the Stafford County Electoral Board to Count a Reported 55 Absentee Ballots of Military Voters. Regarding the military voters, apparently their ballots arrived at the Electoral Board’s P.O. Box on Tuesday (Election Day), but were not picked up until Wednesday (!). And on that “technicality,” the Stafford County Electoral Board apparently is claiming that the men and women who put themselves in harm’s way to defend – among other things – our right to vote are NOT being allowed to vote in this election! Is this outrageous or what, especially on Veterans Day weekend?

As if that’s not bad enough, on the call, it was noted that the Stafford County Electoral Board is ALSO refusing to release the list of provisional ballots, which basically every other local Virginia Electoral Board does routinely, and which is what they’re supposed to do.

By the way, as was repeated over and over again in the call, Democrats have NO IDEA which candidate (Democratic Joshua Cole or Republican Bob Thomas) these ballots will benefit, but that regardless, they should be counted. I couldn’t agree more.

VICTORY!!!! Ohio ordered to restore weekend early voting in judge’s ruling 31AUG12

ANOTHER victory for our Republic and for voters in Ohio and across the nation! Take that repiglicans and tea-baggers!!!!!

By Robert Barnes

A federal judge ruled Friday that Ohio must allow in-person voting on the weekend before the presidential election, a victory for Democrats who claimed Republican efforts to close down early voting were aimed at discouraging voters most likely to support President Obama.
The ruling is the second this week on Ohio voting.
Ohio has allowed in-person voting the weekend before the election since 2005, and U.S. District Judge Peter C. Economus said Friday that the state did not offer a convincing argument as to why it was changing the rules now. The change contained an exception for military voters, and the Obama campaign and Ohio Democrats said all voters should be allowed to vote on the weekend.
Economus, a senior judge appointed by President Bill Clinton, agreed. “On balance, the right of Ohio voters to vote in person during the last three days prior to Election Day — a right previously conferred to all voters by the state — outweighs the state’s interest in setting the 6 p.m. Friday deadline,” Economus wrote. “The burden on Ohio voters’ right to participate in the national and statewide election is great, as evidenced by the statistical analysis offered by plaintiffs and not disputed by defendants.”
Democrats said 93,000 people voted on the weekend before the 2008 election, and several studies have shown that the elderly, the poor and minorities are more likely to take advantage of voting opportunities offered outside normal business hours.
In passing the law, Ohio’s Republican-led legislature said local boards of elections needed the weekend free to prepare for Election Day. State Attorney General Mike DeWine (R) said he would appeal the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.
The case is one of many filed across the country as a response to new laws relating to voter qualifications and access to the polls. Ohio, a battleground state with a history of close elections, is a priority for both parties.
Earlier this week, a different federal judge threw out another Ohio law that restricted the counting of some ballots. He said the state must count ballots that were improperly filed in the wrong precinct when the fault was with election workers, not the legally registered voter. There were about 14,000 such votes four years ago. Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) decided he would not appeal that order, his spokesman said.
In his order, Economus noted that the exception for military voters and others covered by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voter Act (UOCAVA) created two classes of voters. Citing the Supreme Court’s 2000 decision in Bush v. Gore, Economus quoted the ruling’s admonition that “the state may not, by later arbitrary and disparate treatment, value one person’s vote over that of another.” He added, “Here, that is precisely what the state has done.”
Besides, he said, the law left decisions about early in-person voting up to local election boards, meaning even some military voters might not get the opportunity.
“Restoring in-person early voting to all Ohio voters through the Monday before Election Day does not deprive UOCAVA voters from early voting,” the judge wrote. “Instead, and more importantly, it places all Ohio voters on equal standing.”
DeWine said Ohio has “always allowed distinction for military voters, and to say this violates equal protection is wrong.”
He noted that Husted is mailing every voter an absentee ballot that can be used in place of a trip to the polls, and that Ohio was allowing in-person voting beginning Oct. 2.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ohio-ordered-to-restore-weekend-early-voting-in-judges-ruling/2012/08/31/c7f3b5d4-f3a6-11e1-892d-bc92fee603a7_print.html