Virginia County Officials Declare They Will Refuse to Certify November Election - Democracy Docket

By Matt Cohen

October 15, 2024

Election officials in Waynesboro County, Virginia filed a lawsuit on Oct. 4 that says they will refuse to certify the upcoming general election unless the state’s policy on counting ballots is changed.

According to the lawsuit, which was first reported by the Staunton News Leader, Waynesboro County Board of Elections Chair Curtis Lilly and Vice Chair Scott Mares cast doubt on the accuracy of the county’s voting machines and argue that any elections decided by ballots tabulated from a voting machine are unconstitutional.

The lawsuit — filed against Virginia Commissioner of Elections Susan Beals, the Virginia Department of Elections, and the Waynesboro County Board of Elections — argues that because election officials are prohibited from hand-counting ballots, the voting machines that tabulate ballots are counting votes in secret “because neither the program counting the votes recorded on the ballots nor the ballots themselves can be examined.” They argue that this violates the Virginia Constitution, which says that ballots cannot be counted in secret.

On Election Day, election board members compare the votes tabulated to the number of ballots distributed and the number of voters who checked into a given polling place. Under Virginia law, the board members are prohibited from hand-counting ballots or handling the sealed ballots in any way once they’ve been tabulated by the voting machines.

In their complaint, Lilly and Mares state that “to certify the election under the current legal and administrative regime, therefore, would be a violation of their oaths of office, and, absent Court intervention, shall refuse to certify the 2024 election.”In his affidavit, Lilly says that he believes “that the voting machines are conducting a secret canvass as prohibited by the Virginia Constitution.” He adds that he “will refuse to certify the 2024 election until such time as the legal regime permits for hand counting ballots, and certification would not result in a violation of the Virginia Constitution.”

Learn more about the case here.

The Arizona Supreme Court issued an administrative order on Tuesday requiring all trial court judges in the Grand Canyon State to prioritize post-election cases.