Old Dominion News

A lawsuit by the election watchdog Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) charges that election officials in Fairfax County violated state law by not requiring those requesting an application for an absentee ballot to put the last four digits of their Social Security number on the application. 

PILF brought the action involving more than 300 mail requests for applications two weeks before the Nov. 2 election where Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the race for the governor by more than 60,000 votes. Virginia election law requires voters to disclose the last four digits of their Social Security number when submitting an application for an absentee ballot.

Former Virginia Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, currently national chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative, called the Social Security number requirement “a simple and basic voter identification requirement that is widely supported by overwhelming majorities of Virginia voters.”

“For the election registrar in Fairfax County to apparently ignore this law undermines confidence in the neutrality of the registrar in this and all other elections, and in a closer race could have been a source of tremendous dispute,” Cuccinelli told Old Dominion News. “Those responsible should resign or be removed from these offices, and replaced with people who will dutifully follow the law.”

On Oct. 29, the Virginia Circuit Court for Fairfax County dismissed the lawsuit against the Fairfax County registrar on standing, but PILF President J. Christian Adams said it will still serve as a reminder to other counties to abide by the law.

On the day after the elections, Adams likewise called for those responsible to resign.

“After yesterday’s results election officials who have been violating election laws must be removed,” Adams said in a statement. “In this election, general registrar for Fairfax County, Scott Konopasek, violated Virginia law by accepting absentee ballot applications without the last four digits of an individual’s Social Security number. The largest county in Virginia should not be able to break the law without any consequences.”

“This is not the first time Virginia has tried to change the rules in the middle of an election,” he added. “Under Chris Piper’s leadership, the Virginia Department of Elections tried to illegally accept mail ballots without postmark in 2020. PILF sued them and won. New county and state election officials must make election integrity a top priority in Virginia.”

The county refuted the allegations in the lawsuit, the Washington Times reports, but The Center Square reported that county resident Christine Brim, signed an affidavit that she was sent an email by Fairfax County Electoral Board chairman Stephen Hunt, approving mail-in ballot applications without Social Security numbers.

A July NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll of 1,115 showed 79% of respondents believe voters should be required to show government-issued photo identification—including but not limited to a Social Security number—during the voting process.