Recent polling out of Virginia suggests a tight race between Obama and McCain, making Virginia a top swing state this fall. Virginia has voted Republican in every presidential race since 1964, so if Obama could manage a win in Virginia, it would probably seal an electoral college win for Obama. But of course, the evil forces closely associated with voter suppression are rearing their ugly heads in Virginia again, and Chesterfield County Virginia appears to be ground zero.
Chesterfield County is a suburb of Richmond, has a population of about 303,000, with just over 200,000 registered voters. Chesterfield county has had a history of supporting Republicans for statewide office and in presidential campaigns, but the gap has narrowed a bit, as demographic changes have altered the balance in the Richmond suburbs. Chesterfield County first made national news during he 2004 presidential election, when Chesterfield County Registrar Larry Haake posted police officers at each voting precincts throughout the county in the event of "terrorist attacks."
In October 2006, Kent Willis, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, wrote to the Department of Justice requesting they send monitors to Chesterfield County on election day:
Chesterfield County, VA -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia today asked the U.S. Department of Justice to send federal election observers to Chesterfield County on Election Day, November 7, 2006.In his letter to John Tanner, Chief of the Voting Rights Section, ACLU of Virginia executive director Kent Willis cites four incidents over the last two years that, if repeated, could have an adverse impact on minority voters.
"Chesterfield seems to be Virginia's number one trouble spot for irregular voting procedures," said Willis. "Some, like the bizarre posting of armed guards at polling places two years ago, seem intentionally designed to intimidate minority voters. Others, like telling voters standing in line that they must have identification to vote, are simply more likely to have a negative impact on minority voters than others. Either way, the Justice Department ought to be present on Election Day in Chesterfield to ensure that racially fair procedures are in place."
In addition to the 2004 incidents involving armed guards and misinforming voters that they must have identification, Willis's letter also cites Registrar Lawrence C. Haake III's refusal last year to count provisional ballots submitted by persons who had registered on time but whose applications were not processed in a timely manner, as well as an incident reported in the Richmond Times-Dispatch today in which Haake refused to issue an absentee ballot to a registered voter because the voter would not give out his Social Security Number.
http://www.acluva.org/newsrele...
But what was to come in the Virginia presidential primary in Chesterfield county, held on February 12, 2008, was the debacle of all debacles and really brought to light the ineptness of Chesterfield County Registrar Larry Haake and the Chesterfield County Electoral Board.
Through Super Tuesday, turnout in Democratic caucuses and primaries was setting records in almost every state - and you had to be living in a cave not to have known this. But apparently Chesterfield County Registrar is a cave dweller, as he was running out of Democratic ballots in a number of precincts on primary day.
The registrar was receiving calls from poll workers inside their precincts that they were facing long lines of voters at 7:30 a.m. At 8:00 a.m., on primary day, the Virginia State Board of Elections began receiving calls from voters complaining of long lines. The number of calls was so great, the Virginia State Board of Elections Secretary Nancy Rodrigues called Chesterfield County Registrar Larry Haake to offer assistance but the offer of help was rejected by Mr. Haake. The situation was getting worse as the day progressed, as each precinct only had one sign in book. Mr. Haake told poll workers not to split the sign in books, but some pool workers did just that, in an attempt to get the lines of voters through to vote as quickly as possible.
Calls were made to the registrars office beginning at 2:00 p.m., from poll workers indicating they were going to run out of ballots. At 6:00 p.m., the first call came in from a poll worker indicating they had actually run out of ballots. The call was handled by Jack Clifford, an attorney and Chair of the Electoral Board in Chesterfield County. Mr. Clifford instructed the poll workers to begin casting their ballots on pieces of papaer. As more precincts called the Registrars office indicating they had run out of ballots, they were also told to have voters cast their ballots on pieces of paper.
As the afternoon turned to evening, the lines grew longer, more precincts ran out of ballots, and in numerous instances, voters simply left the long lines out of simple frustration. One voters was in line at 6:45 p.m., and did not get to cast a ballot until 9:45 p.m., that evening!!
A total of 299 votes were cast on pieces of paper in 9 precincts. Voters were told their votes would count, but based on state law, the Virginia State Board of Elections did not count them in their final tallies.
Here is the report issued by The Virginia State Board of Elections on May 22, 2008 after completing their investigation. The report is long but it is unbelievable as to the level of incompetence displayed by the registrar and electoral board.
http://votetrustusa.org/pdfs/V...
The Virginia State Board of Elections, working with the Mr. Haake, came up with a plan to resolve these issues. But thick-headed registrars like Larry Haake just don't get it - and their level of incompetence is appalling, as is that of the Chesterfield Electoral Board.
Mr. Haake filed a plan with the justice department to split a number of precincts for this falls election, in an attempt to limit the time voters spend in line trying to vote. However, this should have been done over a year ago. The State Board issues guidelines stating that a precinct should be split once it reaches 4,000 voters. At least three of these precicnts had well over 5,000 registered voters in them, some of which contain large voting populations of AA's that vote strongly Democratic. What a surprise!
The Justice Department approved the new voting precincts as reported on August 27, 2008:
http://villagenewsonline.net/a...
Here is the official report regarding the new precincts from Chesterfield County. And check out those maps!!
http://www.chesterfield.gov/re...
The Richmond Times Dispatch reported about the new voting precicnts as well:
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/...
Larry Haake has now sent out notices to all voters affected by the precinct changes. And in some instances, the directions to the precinct are wrong!! And remember those Maps? Those were sent to voters as well and in many instances, the maps are so small you cannot read the names of the streets!! Imagine the mess this will create on election day! Given the history of performance of Mr. Haake to date, it is hard to believe this was not his intent, to cause mass confusion on election day.
All of this has the potential to cost the Obama campaign the state of Virginia. All it takes is a handful of voters unable to locate their polling location to swing a state in a close election.
And now, the Chesterfield County Democratic Committee has taken on Mr. Haake yet again! In a press release issued by Lynn Cooper, Director of Communications of the Chesterfield Democratic Committee, they issued a scathing rebuke to Mr. Haake:
Larry Haake, Chesterfield Registrar, Again Displays Ineptitude and Callous Disrespect for Voters; Mails Illegible, Inaccurate Precinct Change Information
Chesterfield - In response to concerns raised about the changing of precincts so close to the General Election, the Chesterfield General Registrar, Larry Haake, mailed notices of change information to affected voters, but the enclosed maps are illegible and, in at least one case, the directions are inaccurate.Lynne Cooper, Director of Communications for the Chesterfield County Democratic Committee, issued the following statement in response to the faulty mailing sent to voters, "I am disappointed that Mr. Haake has once again demonstrated total disregard and disdain for the voters and the process. Notwithstanding the raised concerns about precinct changes so close to a presidential election and merely months after the debacle on Primary Day. Mr. Haake added insult to injury by mailing, at taxpayer expense, an erroneous and illegible precinct change notification and map. The purpose of the map should be to offer clear orientation and visual directions from the former precinct to the new one. Instead, the miniscule size of both the roads and the lettering renders the map totally useless.
"Moreover, the narrative that accompanies the map is, at least in one case, wrong, leaving the voter stranded without correct directions or a useful map. Additionally, the registrar's office, in response to queries about these maps and directions, has said that they will not be issuing a corrected mailer, but will post accurate information on their website.
"This is totally unacceptable and beyond belief. Why would any Chesterfield voter feel compelled to double-check the official information sent by the registrar on the registrar's site, should they be fortunate enough to have access to the internet and were aware that a registrar's website even exists?
"This is ludicrous. If voting were not such a serious responsibility and privilege, then the situation would be laughable. But, as citizens of Chesterfield County, we insist that the registrar issue new corrected and legible information to affected voters. We would like to see, post haste, user friendly maps and specific accurate directions so that voters can locate their new precincts. Notifying voters by mail that their precinct has changed or moved is a specific, Virginia Code mandated task of a registrar and we ask our registrar to do his job."
It is really disgusting to see this type of voter suppression taking place over and over again by Mr. Haake and Mr. Clifford. And the judges in Chesterfield County must take responsibility as well. Judges in Chesterfield were appointed by Republicans controlling the state legislature. And these judges have final apporval in appointing members of the electoral board in Chesterfield County.
I guess the fish really does rot from the head down!
The Chesterfield Electoral Board is supposed to manage electoral activites in the county. But it is clear Haake is running them rather than vis a versa. The county electoral board has lost all credibility in the county, the county has been embarassed and humiliated time and again in the national press, and the citizens of Chesterfield are not getting their monies worth from these incompetent officials. The electoral board needs to rise to the occassion, fire Mr. Haake, and hire a competent registrar.