Old Dominion News

The Public Interest Legal Foundation has filed a complaint against the Fairfax County General Registrar and three members of the Fairfax County Election Board alleging that officials are accepting absentee ballots that lack the required last four digits of the voter’s Social Security number, in violation of Virginia Statute and the Anti-Suspension Clause of the Virginia Constitution.

According to the case file, the lawsuit relates to the 2021 Virginia Gubernatorial Election and is being brought on behalf of the Virginia Institute for Public Policy, a local organization that promotes election integrity. 

“Any failure to comply with the law and the established rules and procedures during an election will inevitably lead to a lack of confidence in the results,” Gina Swoboda, executive director of the Voter Reference Foundation, told Old Dominion News.

Virginia law, she states, says absentee ballots received by mail must include the last four digits of the voter’s Social Security number. 

“This ensures that the voter identity is established before a ballot is mailed out, and it also helps ensure that the proper ballot for that voter is issued,” Swoboda said.

According to the Fairfax County Election Board Meeting minutes, absentee ballots were received from two third-party groups, the Voter Participation Center (VPC) and the Center for Voter Information (CVI).

 “So far, there has not been a repeat of the 2020 addressing issues,” the minutes state. “As of August 23, 2021, 926 applications were received; 801 were for permanent absentee ballot status; 125 were one-time absentee ballot requests, and 187 applications have been rejected for missing information. The missing information is almost exclusively the Social Security number which is not pre-populated on the application.”

The Fairfax County Election Board has also discussed whether to leave ballot drop box provisions in place that had been implemented to slow the spread of COVID-19. According to meeting minutes, these drop boxes allowed for a practice called ballot harvesting, which CBS News describes as the process of allowing political operatives and others to collect voters’ ballots and turn them in together to polling stations.

According to a report by the Capital Research Center, the Center for Technology and Civic Life gave to nine of the ten counties that shifted toward Democrats in 2020, with an average shift of 13.7%. This private funding is an example of a third-party group providing funds for an election. Fairfax County received the most money of any county in the country from CTCL in 2020, amounting to $1,431,950. 

Fairfax County general registrar, Scott Konopasek, told WTOP News voters can be assured the coming election will be fair, stating the Office of Elections is processing ballots in accordance with Virginia laws.