VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WVEC) — Questionable signatures on a petition to get Independent Shaun Brown on the ballot have grabbed headlines for more than a week, and political analysts said the issues discussed in this controversy could have impacts statewide.
Virginia Democrats are suing state elections officials to keep Shaun Brown off the ballot in November. It's another political lawsuit, but there's a reason the party took this route, and it could affect all Virginia elections for years to come.
13News Now Political analyst Quentin Kidd can't remember another example where these many petition signatures were called into question after a candidate was certified to be on the ballot.
“As far as I can tell, this is unprecedented in modern Virginia political history,” he said. “The only way that her name could be removed is by the order of a judge. I don't think there's any state infrastructure, the state board of elections, local registrars. I don't' think anybody at this point can undo what they've done.”
Right now, the state code only addresses signature questions ahead of that certification.
“This may be something that the General Assembly has to go back and look at,” Kidd said. “But, they're going to have to go back and look at how to address a situation like this after this situation is dealt with because there's no law right now as far as I can tell that guides us.”
More action could be needed if a judge confirms what 13News Now uncovered -- that signatures of dead people and people who don't live or vote in Virginia anymore, were in fact validated and counted by elections officials -- because the petition process is required any time someone's name is put on the ballot in any election.
“It means that we probably need a more thorough way to vet signatures,” Kidd said. “It probably also means that whoever broke the law needs to be punished for breaking the law as a message about the seriousness of this in the future.”
November is almost three months away, so we asked Kidd why this is being litigated well before Election Day.
“The backdrop of all of this is we're concerned about the integrity of our election system, right,” Kidd responded. “Municipalities want to be able to check their voting booths. They want to be able to check the electronic system and make sure everything is going to work right. In order to do that they need the ballot that’s going to be used on Election Day.”
So far, no date has been set for a hearing in the Democrats’ case and elections officials have not responded to the filing.
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