Virginians for American First (VFAF), a 501(c)4 established to help restore the founding fathers’ vision of the American republic, launched a project with the goal of promoting election security throughout the state.
As a step in the project, the organization conducted a survey of registrars, officials responsible for the conduct of elections at the county and city level, and issued a report that explained numerous areas of concern.
In the survey, VFAF interviewed 29 different cities or counties that covered more than 20% of the cities throughout the state, while attempted to conduct multiple additional interviews
According to the report, many individuals who help carry out the state’s elections expressed concerns over the expansion of early voting in the state.
“The most common concern expressed by the registrars was related to the expansion of early voting, the need that created for more staff, and the lack of funding for these new responsibilities. Many also mentioned their concern that the changes to the absentee process in 2020 had contributed to a general loss of faith in the integrity of the election process among voters, and they worried that would affect their work in the upcoming elections,” the report states.
Furthermore, registrars compiled a list of comprehensive concerns that has transpired in previous elections cycles: election season length, partisan representation in election administration, voter lists, voting machines, and election transparency.
In order to address the multiple concerns reported, VFAF also organized a list of recommendations in order to tackle each concern and restore confidence in the election process:
- Shorten the lengthy election season to one day
- Provide adequate time to implement election laws
- Establish a nonpartisan election administration or make policy changes to address the uneven application of the partisan principle
- Require effective identification and proof of citizenship for voter registration
- Revert to an open and transparent manual polling process
- End advance voting and limit absentee voting to those with a genuine need
- Empower non partisan observers with the same rights and responsibilities as partisan poll watchers
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Cooper Moran is a reporter for the Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
