By Graham Moomaw
(VM) – The State Board of Elections certified the results of Virginia’s legislative primaries Wednesday in a unanimous, drama-free vote despite a handful of political controversies lingering after the June 20 elections.
The certification vote means state election officials have now officially declared former Republican state senator Glen Sturtevant the winner in his GOP primary battle against Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, in a Richmond-area district where Chase has been threatening to file a legal challenge.

Chase has been asking supporters to donate money to help her fight the result while indicating Wednesday was the deadline to file a challenge. She did not appear at the state board meeting to raise any objections in person to Sturtevant being certified as the winner.

In an Independence Day-themed fundraising solicitation this week, Chase indicated she had raised nearly $12,000 for the effort.

“To date, we’ve raised enough money to cover the retainer and our attorneys are in good faith moving forward, but we will still have to pay their hourly fee and expenses,” Chase’s email blast read.

Online court records gave no indication Chase had filed a legal challenge as of Wednesday afternoon. In a news release Wednesday evening, Chase said she had emailed a complaint to the state board on Wednesday morning and hand-delivered a copy Wednesday afternoon after the certification vote had occurred.

Her complaint centers largely on the Chesterfield County Republican Committee’s selection of Sturtevant campaign official as an official party observer to watch the testing of ballot scanners used in the 45-day early voting window. Chase’s complaint acknowledges state law largely lets parties operate on an “honor system” where fair treatment of candidates is expected but not always legally mandated. The senator requested a hand recount of ballots cast via early voting and a “full forensic audit,” but neither process is envisioned in state law. State election officials did not take up Chase’s complaint Wednesday and it’s unclear if they intend to do so.

The state elections board also denied a request for a 10-day filing extension that could have helped a handful of would-be candidates who had missed paperwork deadlines. That move also appeared to shut the door for good on two prospective Democratic candidates who allege their party treated them unfairly.

Democrat Makya Little, who narrowly lost a Northern Virginia House of Delegates primary to winner Rozia Henson, addressed the board in person, claiming local party leaders had skewed the contest and caused her to lose by 49 votes. Little alleged Democratic leaders in Prince William and Fairfax counties “manipulated voters to ensure their desired outcome” by allowing party officials to be involved with other candidates’ campaigns, deleting her social media posts from party pages, canceling a “bilingual voter drive” and masterminding endorsements against her.

“For these reasons, I’m asking for an extension to run as an independent on the ballot since I had no good-faith opportunity to qualify as a Democrat,” Little said.

It’s unclear whether Little’s request was legally possible due to Virginia’s so-called “sore loser law” that prohibits a candidate from being on the ballot as an independent after failing to win their party’s nomination in a primary. The board took no action in response to Little and spent no time discussing her allegations.

Tonya James, the chair of the Prince William County Democratic Committee, said it was the Democratic voters of the 19th House District who “chose their candidate.”

“Our committee will not entertain the disenfranchisement of those voters for exercising their right to vote,” James said.

Some Democrats have also been pushing for a last-minute reprieve for Jasmine Lipscomb, a Democratic military veteran who was trying to run against Del. Danny Marshall, R-Danville, but was denied the nomination after clashing with local Democratic organizers over the rules for a party-run nominating method.

After Democrats rebuffed her efforts to become the party’s nominee despite her failure to meet the party’s requirements for a $500 filing fee and 100 voter signatures, Lipscomb and her allies have been suggesting the state board could intervene and put her on the ballot anyway. The board did not discuss Lipscomb’s predicament on Wednesday and no one spoke on her behalf.

A half-dozen other General Assembly hopefuls, mostly independents and candidates running longshot campaigns, had requested a filing extension that would have allowed them to appear on the ballot despite paperwork problems. Like Lipscomb, a few of those candidates were urging the board to err on the side of giving voters more options, not less.

Democrat Daniel Tomlinson, who was attempting to challenge Del. John McGuire, R-Goochland, in a Republican-heavy Senate district outside Richmond, asked the board for leniency and said his paperwork issues were his own doing.

“I must say I have no excuse,” Tomlinson said, noting he was a first-time candidate unfamiliar with the process. “This was a rookie mistake that I made while trying to keep up with the myriad demands that were imposed on me.”

Though the board had granted a similar extension in April for candidates filing to run in the primaries, the board did not grant an extension for the June 20 deadline.

“When somebody asks for a late extension, to some degree you disenfranchise the folks that did follow the rules,” said Board of Elections Chairman John O’Bannon, a Republican.

Jessica Rowland, a Democrat hoping to run against Del. Mike Cherry, R-Colonial Heights, also did not meet all filing requirements, according to election officials, and seemingly won’t appear on the ballot due to the board’s refusal to grant an extension.

Board member Matthew Weinstein, a Democrat, suggested having the Department of Elections do an internal study on paperwork issues and when filing extensions have and haven’t been granted with a goal of coming up with clearer guidance on what its policies are moving forward.

“I think it might be helpful for people to kind of have a set of expectations going into it,” Weinstein said.

Elections Commissioner Susan Beals indicated the department would conduct such a study.