One of the most prominent spreaders of election conspiracy theories in Virginia politics, Chase appeared to lose a close three-way GOP primary to former Republican senator Glen Sturtevant. She is not conceding defeat and says she’s talking to lawyers and raising money for a possible legal challenge.
The basis for a potential lawsuit, Chase said in an interview Thursday, is that her campaign wasn’t present when Chesterfield ballot scanning machines used for early voting were tested for accuracy and certified.
“We weren’t there to witness it,” Chase said. “So was there fraud? We don’t know. We don’t know because we weren’t there.”
In a statement released Thursday, Chesterfield Registrar Missy Vera said the machines were “properly certified” and her office fully complied with state law. The law says election officials must notify the leaders of local political parties about when and where it will test the accuracy of voting equipment, but it does not require registrars to notify individual candidates’ campaigns.
Candidates are only required to be notified about machine testing if they’re seeking a non-partisan seat on a town or city council and there are no other partisan races on the ballot. A partisan General Assembly primary does not meet that criteria.
Representatives from political parties only observe the process, Vera said, and “do not physically touch the machine.”
“It is the Registrar staff that conducts the Logic and Accuracy testing, all of whom take an oath to prevent fraud, deceit and abuse in the conduct of the election and act in compliance of the law,” Vera said.
In a press release last month, Chase complained that the Chesterfield GOP had designated a Sturtevant campaign staffer, Lauren Fulcher, as its representative to watch the machine certification instead of a “neutral observer.” The Chesterfield GOP didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday.
In response to Chase’s complaint last month, Chesterfield County GOP Chair Leslie Haley said she had made a last minute decision to let Fulcher act as the party’s representative because no one else was available. Haley apologized “for any misunderstandings” but said the process creates “no opportunity for any bias or influence.” She added she’d work to involve all campaigns in the upcoming testing process for the machines used at regular polling places.
Asked whether she feels a legal challenge would be directed at the registrar’s office or the local political party, Chase said “I’m not an attorney.”
“This isn’t necessarily about overturning election results,” she said. “This is about holding people accountable who didn’t follow the law.”
Even if Chase were able to successfully challenge the validity of some Chesterfield votes, it’s not clear the math would be on her side.
Chase has stressed that she won more votes cast through the traditional voting process on Tuesday. That’s true, but thousands of other ballots were cast through the mail and in person before Tuesday. Sturtevant had enough of an edge in those categories to come out on top overall, with 8,515 votes to 8,169 for Chase. A third candidate, Tina Ramirez, got 4,892 votes.
If all votes cast in person during the 45-day early voting window were subtracted from the totals, Sturtevant would still be ahead, according to unofficial tallies as of Thursday afternoon. Chase would only take the lead if absentee votes cast by mail were also removed from the total count.
With Chase acknowledging her complaint is about the notification and testing observation process, not the technical accuracy of the machines or the validity of ballots fed into them, it’s unclear why any ballots would be thrown out. Because Virginia’s voting system relies entirely on paper ballots, if there’s any question about the accuracy of a scanning machine, the paper ballots can be counted by hand.
In a victory statement, Sturtevant thanked Chase and Ramirez for “their willingness to serve the community” and said he hopes to work with them in the future.
Chase said she would not concede to Sturtevant. She also indicated Thursday that she may run a write-in campaign for the seat, a threat that, if she follows through, could potentially jeopardize the GOP’s ability to hold a must-have district.
“It looks bad for the Republican Party,” Chase said. “We’ve got to ensure to voters that the process is fair, that it’s transparent. And it’s been anything but.”
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