The Justice Department announced on Friday that it will have two assistant U.S. Attorneys in place in Western Virginia to handle Election Day complaints.
And, yes, there will be complaints.
“The right to vote is the cornerstone of our Republic. The Department of Justice will always work to protect the integrity of the election process and to ensure that every citizen has the ability to vote without interference or discrimination. In addition, election officials, staff, and others working to ensure a free and fair election is carried out will be protected from unlawful threats of violence this and every election season,” U.S. Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh said on Friday, as he announced the appointment of Lena Busscher and Ronald Huber to lead the election-protection efforts of his Western District of Virginia U.S. Attorney office.
The focus of the attorneys will be on complaints of voting rights concerns, threats of violence to election officials or staff, and election fraud.
It’s coming.
We’re already seeing, out here in our part of the Western District, an effort by the two Republican members of the Waynesboro Electoral Board, Curt Lilly and Scott Mares, to file a pre-emptive suit to assert their rights to not certify the Nov. 5 election in the City of Waynesboro unless they are given the ability by a Circuit Court judge to hand count the votes themselves.
ICYMI
- Waynesboro Republicans file suit to pre-emptively challenge Nov. 5 vote count
- Waynesboro Republicans who don’t want to certify Nov. 5 election were … recruited?
- Gov. Youngkin, AG Miyares mum on Waynesboro lawsuit challenging Nov. 5 vote count
The suit was filed on Oct. 4, and at this writing, the end of the business day on Oct. 18, we still don’t have a court date set to hear the case, which plays into the hands of the GOP litigants, whose case doesn’t seem the kind that would be able to stand on its merits, but that’s not the aim.
The goal is to gum up the works in terms of the election count, and it’s just the tip of the spear of things that Virginia Republicans have in the works over the next few weeks.
What the DOJ is fighting with having assistant U.S. Attorneys handling election-related harassment, threats of violence and fraud is the low-level stuff.
“Ensuring free and fair elections depends in large part on the assistance of the American electorate,” Kavanagh said. “It is important that those who have specific information about voting rights concerns or election fraud make that information available to the Department of Justice.”
Report an Election Day complaint
Justice Department, Assistant U.S. Attorneys
- Western District, Lena Busscher, 276-739-2954
- Western District, Ronald Huber, 434-296-3912
- Northern Virginia, Jordan Harvey, 703-299-3700
- Tidewater region – Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Mozzi, 757-441-6331
- Central Capitol region – Assistant U.S. Attorney Avi Panth, 804-819-5400
FBI special agents
The FBI will have special agents available in each field office and resident agency throughout the country to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on election day.
The FBI field offices in Virginia can be reached by the public at:
- Washington Field Office – 202-278-2000
- Richmond Field Office 804-261-1044
- Norfolk Field Office – 757-455-0100
Complaints about possible violations of the federal voting rights laws can be made directly to the Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C., by complaint form at civilrights.justice.gov or by phone at 800-253-3931.
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Chris Graham
