ICYMI: The Virginia Board of Elections has officially flipped to a GOP majority ...

[mahatmakanejeeves]

ICYMI: The Virginia Board of Elections has officially flipped to a GOP majority after Gov. Youngkin appointed a new member to replace a Democrat who resigned to become a judge.

Bipartisan efforts to give the two parties equal seats are dead for now.

virginiamercury.com
Virginia lawmakers punt on bills aimed at limiting partisan election oversight - Virginia Mercury
Virginia lawmakers went home for the summer without a deal on proposals to limit partisan influence in the state’s election bureaucracy.

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Virginia lawmakers punt on bills aimed at limiting partisan election oversight

‘We sort of let it go’

BY: GRAHAM MOOMAW - JUNE 30, 2022 12:02 AM

Despite getting several extra months to negotiate, Virginia lawmakers went home for the summer without a deal on proposals to limit partisan influence in the state’s election bureaucracy.

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Under Virginia’s system, the governor gets to hire the state’s top election official, a job that involves verifying election results and ensuring the voting process runs smoothly. The governor’s party also automatically gets a majority of the seats on the elections board, which votes to certify election winners and adjudicates some election-related complaints.

The state board flipped to a GOP majority last month when Younkin appointed Georgia Alvis-Long, a former Republican member of the Augusta County Board of Elections, to fill the vacancy left when Jamilah D. LeCruise became a judge. That gave the GOP three of five seats, but former Democratic delegate Bob Brink will continue to serve as the board’s chairman until early next year.

There have been no major controversies in Virginia recently over explicit partisanship in those roles. After the 2020 election, the Virginia board certified President Joe Biden’s resounding, double-digit victory in the state and the 13 Electoral College votes that came with it. But election oversight has taken on renewed importance across the country due to the staying power of baseless election conspiracies and some Republicans’ willingness to spread them.

Youngkin, who emphasized “election integrity” in last year’s campaign, supported the proposal to eliminate his office’s power to hire and fire the elections commissioner. But he still had the power to appoint Beals, who appears to have been largely well-received in the Virginia elections world and has stayed out of the political fray since her appointment in March.

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GRAHAM MOOMAW
A veteran Virginia politics reporter, Graham grew up in Hillsville and Lynchburg, graduating from James Madison University and earning a master's degree in journalism from the University of Maryland. Before joining the Mercury in 2019, he spent six years at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, most of that time covering the governor's office, the General Assembly and state politics. He also covered city hall and politics at The Daily Progress in Charlottesville. Contact him at [e-mail]

[empedocles]

1. Thank the Democratic Party wings who undermined President Biden, and elected

youngkin - who is already testing the presidential waters.