Va. registrars share how they keep rolls accurate, reflect on their role in the democratic process

Ahead of Election Day, when Virginians will choose a new governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and House of Delegates members, a group of registrars from around Virginia recently explained how elections work, how they help keep them secure and the inspiration behind their efforts facilitating people’s ability to participate in the democratic process. 

The discussion stemmed from a partnership between the Virginia Mercury and Keep Our Republic, a civic education nonprofit.

Security is paramount, the registrars said, as they broke down how they pre-test voting equipment, create protocols for election worker conduct and access to ballots, and how  they participate in the post-election audits state law requires. 

Though registrars and other workers may appear to have heavier workloads on Election Day and the 45 days of early voting that leads up to it, registrars said the work of maintaining voter rolls is a year-round duty.

“It’s funny, people think we work once every four years for the presidential election,” said Norfolk registrar Stephanie Iles. “We are working every day. We’re not just running the elections, we are handling the voter registration and campaign finance, but we have elections every single year.”

She, along with Richmond registrar David Levine, Henrico County Registrar Mark Coakley, and Virginia Beach Registrar Christine Lewis, explained that they’ve also acted as educators when sharing their insights with state lawmakers regarding ballot box accessibility. 

Another key responsibility is catching voter fraud — something that most often is a voter’s own error, rather than malicious attempt to undermine democracy, they said. 

But the distrust in the system that some politicians and influencers have sown in recent years has made their jobs challenging at times. 

“If somebody you’ve lionized, somebody that you worship, somebody that you respect – perhaps somebody that you voted for — is pushing information that’s incorrect and doing so repeatedly, combating that is a challenge,” Levine said. 

Much of the electoral process distrust and the spread of misinformation about it escalated during and following the 2020 presidential election. That year, President Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden and insisted election fraud was to blame. Recounts in battleground states confirmed Biden’s victory that year, but his assertions culminated in a violent storming of the U.S. Capitol after he spoke at a “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021. 

Numerous lawsuits filed by Trump and allies have been dismissed and Fox News paid millions in a settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, one of several technology companies to file defamation suits. 

Levine said that he thinks it’s “fair to say” that democracy is “under threat.”

“We’re at a critical inflection point,” he said and he added that he stays in the profession so that he can tell his sons years from now how he worked to ensure that everyone’s votes were counted. 

The registrars shared the often unseen, nitty gritty details of how they run their offices — from processing applications, to administering elections, to verifying everything is secure and accurate. 

They wish more voters knew about and understood the layers of security and points of double-checking, they emphasized. In some cases, they’ve invited skeptics to be involved in the work and experience it up close.  

“We’ve taken some of the biggest naysayers, I would say, that have questioned the process or have questioned the security, and we’ve invited them to serve as officers of elections in our polling places to see what goes on behind the scenes,” Iles said. 

As a result the critics have relayed appreciation for the preemptive testing, layers of security during elections, and post-election auditing, she added. 

Additionally, Iles shared that “we always do things in pairs, so no one person is around our equipment at one time. There’s always multiple people.”

And while voter fraud is rare, the different registrars shared instances where they’ve caught it and protocols for how to address it. 

“Most of the time, our voter fraud is not intentional,” Virginia Beach Registrar Lewis said. “It’s usually someone that’s voted early or by mail the first couple weeks, and then on Election Day, they forgot they voted.”

Coakley of Henrico explained that commonly, in areas with concentrations of universities, students that were previously registered where their parents live then try to vote in the locality where they attend college. 

“A student may be registered at home 45 days before an election, and their parents say, ‘go vote,’ and then on election day, a professor will say, ‘look, there’s same-day registration in Virginia,’” Coakley said. “It’s easily caught, and there is no double voting going on with those situations.”

Iles said there was a time her office caught an intentional double-voting attempt where a resident voted locally in Norfolk and absentee in Florida. They were referred to law enforcement for investigation and prosecution. That instance was the exception rather than the rule, as Iles said her office most often catches paperwork mistakes. 

For instance, sometimes people with past felony convictions fail to indicate that status on paperwork — a misrepresentation that is then referred to local commonwealths attorney offices to investigate. In Virginia, people with past felony convictions are unable to vote unless they’ve successfully petitioned the governor to restore their rights. 

The state legislature advanced an attempt to enshrine automatic voting rights restoration into  Virginia’s constitution this year. If it passes again next year, it can appear on ballots statewide for Virginians to approve or reject. If approved, people who have completed their prison sentences would automatically be able to vote again in lieu of petitioning the governor. 

With over 750,000 votes already cast by mid-October, registrars and other election workers will continue to staff early voting locations and process mail-in ballots leading up to Election Day on Nov. 4. Despite long-simmering Republican opposition to early voting nationwide, Gov. Glenn Youngkin has launched advertisement campaigns in recent years to encourage voters to take advantage of all of their voting options. Shortly after early voting began, turnout was high in GOP-strongholds — areas once reluctant to embrace early voting — or “purple” districts, which have been critical to both parties.

The registrars enjoy assisting first-time voters, whether they are naturalized citizens, newly legal adults finally allowed to participate, or those compelled by key issues to cast their first ballot. Coakley said first-time voters serve as a living reminder of why he stays in the election administration industry. 

“(They’re) the best part. If they’re 18 or 83, it does not matter,” Coakley said. “When you see that first-time voter and give them that sticker and everybody has applause, that’s what keeps us coming back each day.”

Editor’s note: This report was produced in partnership with Keep Our Republic, a civic education nonprofit.

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com.