Anyone living in Virginia's Buckingham County wishing to register to vote or file paperwork to run for political office is out of luck after the entire staff of the registrar's office resigned after being hounded by the local Republican party ranting about election fraud.
According to a report from NBC News, registrar Lindsey Taylor walked away from her job, along with two part-time staffers, after being deluged with complaints and rumors that she was going to be investigated.
In an interview with NBC, she lamented, "There were people saying that they had heard all these rumors — that the attorney general was going to indict me. Mentally, I just — I couldn’t take it anymore.”
That was three weeks ago and the office remains shut down.
According to the report, "In January, the GOP assumed control of the Buckingham County Electoral Board that oversees her office, and local Republicans began advancing baseless voter fraud claims that baffled her. The electoral board made it clear it wanted her out of the job.
The report added that "a state elections worker arrived in town a week later to try to pick up the pieces, looking through drawers and opening the mail, as the two remaining members of the electoral board — both Republicans, because the one Democrat had also recently quit — began the difficult process of restaffing a completely barren department."
Margaret Thomas, who retired from the registrar job after 28 years lamented the current state of affairs.
"It’s just sad that the big lie has come to Buckingham. And before it was never here,” she remarked.
David Becker, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, warned that what is happening in the Virginia county is not a one-off.
“A lot of election officials I’ve talked to are asking themselves: why am I doing this? Why am I getting paid like a civil servant to be constantly harassed?” he said. “Whether it’s the intent or not, the effect is to drive a lot of these public servants — upon who we’ve relied for decades in some cases — out of the field, which will leave elections more vulnerable than they’ve been before.”
At the center of the fight over how elections are being handled is Buckingham County Republican Committee Chairwoman Ramona Christian, who listed off a series of grievances at a Jan. 4 meeting, that culminated with her telling Taylor, "I am putting you on notice — for treason!”
According to attorney Kemper Beasley III, who was tasked with investigating election fraud complaints from a local resident, they were all baseless.
"I couldn’t find anything criminal. The former registrar, in my mind, did an excellent job,” he explained.
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