Dismal experience for Chesterfield voters

More than 20 speakers took turns blasting Chesterfield County election officials yesterday for poor planning, insufficient staffing and lack of training they said resulted in long lines for the presidential primary last month.

The three-hour grilling before the State Board of Elections was the latest round in an ongoing sparring match between state and county officials over Chesterfield's handling of the Feb. 12 election.

Unexpectedly heavy turnout caused long delays that led some people to give up trying to vote. Nine precincts ran out of Democratic ballots. The State Board voted last week to not count 299 handwritten votes accepted by the Chesterfield Electoral Board.

Carmel Jones-Boyd said she arrived at the Chippenham Precinct at Hening Elementary School at 6 p.m. and voted at 8:15 p.m. on an official ballot once extras were brought by police officers.

"In November, I guess I'll have to take a day off work and pack my breakfast, lunch and dinner so I can exercise my right to vote," she said.

Some speakers, including two from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and two from the Democratic Party, said the poll problems led to disenfranchised minority voters.

"I've looked at the precincts that have had problems in terms of long lines and running out of ballots — they are disproportionately comprised of black voters," said David S. Turetsky, a Washington attorney who served as an observer on primary day for the Democratic Party.

Chesterfield Registrar Lawrence C. Haake III and the three members of the county Electoral Board declined an offer to speak at the beginning of the meeting. Haake said afterward that it had been predictably one-sided.

"It was about what I expected," he said. "Some of it was valuable, but not much."

He denied suggestions that race was an issue.

"I deliberately do not go to any effort to know the racial demographics," Haake said. "Votes have no color, they're just voters."

Turetsky had also accused Haake of ignoring the problems when he was alerted to them on the morning of the primary, claiming he denied an offer for assistance at the polls from the State Board's secretary.

Haake said he did receive a call from the secretary, but the state did not have enough help available to make a difference at the polling places. He said there were an average of eight workers per precinct compared to the three required by law.

Michael Brown of Richmond asked the State Board to reconsider the decision to discount the 299 handwritten votes, saying the state code did not clearly define an "official ballot."

Brown, a former 18-year employee of the State Board, asked the three-member panel to hold another hearing on the matter.

"I do believe we have a responsibility to err on the side of the voter even though the locality was incompetent in carrying out their responsibility," he said.

Brown said Chesterfield had a long record of voting problems and urged the county's Electoral Board members to abandon their posts and terminate the registrar.

Samantha Burch-Stanley, the chief polling officer in the Falling Creek precinct, also pleaded with the State Board to reconsider. She said some people had waited for more than two hours for the opportunity to vote.

Her precinct ran out of ballots shortly after 6 p.m. with lines wrapping around Falling Creek Elementary School.

"I cried, I pulled myself together and then asked the [registrar's office] what is going on?"

She said she was told that no more ballots were coming and was informed of the decision to accept handwritten votes.

Virginia law allows the State Board to file for removal of a registrar or electoral board member in circuit court if it finds they have acted unlawfully.

The state board's chairman, Jean Cunningham, said the board is continuing its review and plans to present a report of its findings next month.

Haake said after the meeting that the only way to fix all the problems addressed was to allow postal voting in November, where citizens could mail their votes to the registrar's office.

He said there is still time left at the General Assembly to legalize the practice, never before used in Virginia.

"Get the legislation in and we'll vote by mail in November," he said.

The practice of voting by mail has been used in Oregon and Washington, Haake said.

Wesley P. Hester is a staff writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.