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An Irregularity Confirmed
By Greg L | 3 June 2007 | 51st HOD District | 16 Comments
I had a chance to interview Chris and Barbara Cummings, two delegates from the Penn precinct that participated in the 51st District convention this weekend. They observed one of the more troubling irregularities at the convention that I reported on yesterday.
Chris and Barbara were near the front of the line of delegates waiting to vote. They had to wait about five or more minutes before the doors to the cafeteria where voting was conducted, and after waiting quite a while for voting to open, they as well as many other delegates were anxious to vote and leave so they could spend the rest of the day with their families. Once the doors opened, there was quite a rush and the room packed tightly with delegates in a hurry to vote.
While one delegate was filling out their ballot in front of the observer from the Lucas campaign, the delegate in front of Chris and Barbara cut into the line and went to Faisal Gill’s observer, who happened to be Faisal Gill’s son. To the best of their recollection, and my own, he was not a delegate in the convention nor did he have a badge identifying him as an official volunteer for the convention, and it’s somewhat irregular that he would be allowed in the voting room which was closed to all non-delegates. This voter placed their badge on the table, and the precinct listed on that badge was not Penn. The voter did not provide identification. The voter received a ballot from Faisal Gill’s son, had their badge marked with an “X”, recorded a vote for Faisal Gill, and placed it in the ballot box.
When Barbara went to the table, she placed her badge on the table, was asked to present photo identification, received a ballot, marked it, and placed it in the box, and had her badge marked. She questioned Faisal Gill’s son about what had happened with the voter who had cut in front of her, and Faisal Gill’s son explained “That’s all right. It doesn’t matter.” The Lucas observer hadn’t seen what had happened, as she had been distracted by the other person voting at the same time.
After Barbara explained the process she went through, it reminded me that I observed several persons in line receiving pre-marked ballots for Faisal Gill outside of the cafeteria. These may have been sample ballots (although I can’t imagine the need for these), or there may have been some other purpose for these. I observed three people be handed these ballots by a man of apparent Pakistani origin. At the time I didn’t think anything of it, since I would never have suspected voting irregularities at this convention, and I do not believe I taped what happened in that line. This may not have been an irregularity, or it may be significant. I don’t know either way.
I’m getting additional reports of persons admitting they were not citizens to others at the convention who may have been delegates, and that some people who do not live in the 51st District voted in the convention. I haven’t had a chance to run these down, but will as soon as I can.
The 11th CD needs to weigh in on this ASAP, if only to ensure that some degree of confidence in the convention process can be salvaged.
CORRECTION: I had misidentified the precinct as Chinn earlier. The precinct in question was in fact Penn precinct, where one over-vote was recorded.
UPDATE: Barbara emailed with some additional observations:
I think it’s important to note that the woman came from away from the line to talk to Faisal’s son. It seems likely to me that she came to him specifically because she knew him which would also explain why he did not ask her for identification. She was probably scanning the room for a familiar face and found Faisal’s son so she dashed over to where he was without caring which district table she was going to. It’s all just so strange.
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16 Comments
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Osammy and Greg,
A comment that like the one posted, although intended to be funny is clearly racist. I am a regular reader and participant, but racism is wrong here or anywhere. I did not support Faisal, I do not believe he can win in September, but the racism has got to stop. To compare the antics at the convention to 9/11 is a disgrace. Greg, I think you should pull his post.
[Ed note: agreed. I know emotions run high on this, but let’s try to do better than this, OK folks?]
One of many things that bothered me about the entire 51st HOD process was the involvement of Michele McQuigg, an obvious Gill supporter. She has been our 51st Delegate for many years and has been quite popular with mainstream and moderate Republicans…popular because of her numerous “door-to-door” visits with voters, attention to detail, consistent attempts to solve problems for voters in the district, concern for driving safety etc.
Why was she telling people that she was voting for Gill?
Gill’s driving record is a very loud indication that he does not respect the laws that keep our roads safe. I doubt that he will be coughing up legislation to tighten any of those laws.
Gill’s lack of responsibility when it comes to committee activities (while he was vice chair of the county GOP a most common question was “where is Faisal?”) and board meetings (absentee and late record is very high) seems very opposite from McQuigg’s sense of responsibility and accountability.
It is a dilemma trying to figure out why she is a Gill supporter. But, on top of that, why was she in charge of the convention Credentials Committee, the committee that approved many “questionably registered/eligible” people to vote?
“Conflict of Interest” kept rising to the top of my thoughts yesterday as I observed the convention. I was a supporter of Michele’s…but now am quite disillusioned.
I saw in this morning’s WaPo that Gill got the nomination: 210-202. Of course, nothing was mentioned about any irregularities.
Austin,
We don’t have controlled speech….yet.
Uh, i’m no party guru, but i know enough to be dangerous
Requests/demands for the 11CD, or RPV for that matter, to “weigh in” or otherwise intervene are pointless, as neither can act unless and until a formal appeal is filed.
I did hear that both the 11CD Chairman and an RPV Rep were in attendance at the 51st HOD convention as observers.
BTW the Party Plan is availabe on the RPV website and details the appeals process if anyone is interested.
At the Chairman’s convention, last fall the process to vote began in single file lines. When it came your turn, someone handed you the ballot and stayed with you until you completed it, another watched up until the ballot was dropped into a large box. At the 51st District, ballots were distributed and later collected.
17 over-votes were discovered, delegate forms were completed before filing for voter registration, an unverifiable address from a committee member who was a delegate, but the address she filed with the committee months ago is in the Woodbridge District and delegates who witnessed duplicate ballots. Is that not enough evidence to consider an investigation for voter fraud?
There still is fraudulent concern regarding the filing process with Lucy Beauchamp. Kopko obviously favored McQuigg from the start but it is rumored that Michele McQuigg was asked to vacate the 51st for GILL!
Steve Keen a long time PW Republican didn’t bother running as a Republican in Woodbridge. Chris Royse the Woodbridge candidate had Chairman Stewart’s endorsement the day he announced soon afterwards Royse’s wife became the Committee Treasurer. Kopko and Royse seemed to join forces during the vice chairman election after Ulrich resigned her post from the committee.
Ulrich and Kopko agreed to recommend Trent Barton as her replacement that prompted Denny Daugherty to run in opposition. Stewart warned Barton that he could never beat Daugherty. At the election for vice chair, voting tickets were randomly handed out with no check and balance system. Many people in the room were offered a ticket to vote 2 or 3 times. Ms. Royse accepted the voting tickets even though some visitors had never been on the committee, had lapsed, she even accepted tickets from non-members holding a proxy supposedly from a member. Ironically, that night we had a visitor in the room, Attorney General Bob McDonald, who quietly departed at some point in the process but it gave some of us a false sense of security.
Questionable events surrounded the Occoquan convention, too. Faisal Gill was the Convention Chairman and a supporter of Mike May prior to the convention. Looks like May was able to return the favor to Gill but Julie may have helped inadvertently by trusting a person to work for her in credentials that is one of Chairman Stewarts close friends.
Over-votes do not just mysteriously appear, not 17 of them and all for Gill. I hope this is further invested by RPV because the arrogance and ignorance of a select few is reflecting poorly on all Republican’s in Prince William.
[Ed note: I believe there were far fewer over-votes than this. There were 17 people who registered to vote between the time the registrar’s books were closed and May 21st, however. This may be a case of someone mixing up which numbers were for what.]
Hey Anonymous at 7:04,
You should also know that Kopko and his allies were at the grassy knoll.
Anonymous sounds a little familiar. Let’s see, you think that Kopko, Stewart, McQuigg, Gill and several others are in some grand conspiracy. You sound a lot like Mr. John Gray.
Austin,
You wrote, “I did not support Faisal, I do not believe he can win in September, but the racism has got to stop.”
Now I do not live in the 51st and have no emotional investment in this race, but don’t you mean November, not September?
Too many to list in one posting! Thank goodness several people documented the improprieties that occurred.
I was a Lucas delegate at the convention. All I can say is that something was not right and not right on purpose. This was my first foray into the local political process and could never have expected such goings on. I do not want to hear that simple mistakes, harmless oversights resulted in unverified delegates, overvotes, etc. Of course it was a small amount. Why would anyone overplay their hand if they wanted to avoid scrutiny? Just takes a few to do the trick.
I spent 23 years in the USMC. I am grown up enough to hold our election process in reverence. I am a quiet small potatoes guy who doesn’t get invited to galas. Had Julie Lucas had overvotes and shady credentialed delegates and non-registered individuals I would repudiating her candidacy here. I made sure all my forms were correct and on time and that I had all my identification lined up ahead of time. I expected the same from all the other delegates.
The Republican Party has left me on a National Level. I had hoped it would not do so on the local level. I will vote in the next election. I will not stay home. I spent too many years defending the right to vote. But I will not be voting for Mr. Gill.
Obviously, “Charles” above can be distinguished form Charles Reichley. I also hope that most people reading it read it as fiction.
I work under the presumption that someone who was a Marine for 23 years would blithely give his word and then, two days later, announce that he was breaking it. Kinda gives a new meaning to the term “Semper Fi.” This Charles, if one also takes him at his word that he was a Lucas delegate, quite clearly lied when he signed the pledge, and should never have been permitted to be one.
Obviously, even if one credits the claims of some here about Faisal’s votes, some of Julie’s votes were tainted, too.
I also saw nothing wrong at the convention and actually thought the election was run fairly well. It’s not surprising or unusual that there is controversy when an election is close. With regard to the overvotes, my guess is that people who lived in Lake Ridge cast their votes in the Lake Ridge precinct box, even though they lived in a different precinct in Lake Ridge. In other words, some political newcomers may not have realized the difference between Lake Ridge the HOA and Lake Ridge the precinct.
“”"”But I will not be voting for Mr. Gill.”"”"
“”"This Charles, if one also takes him at his word that he was a Lucas delegate, quite clearly lied when he signed the pledge, and should never have been permitted to be one.”"”
The pledge merely stated that the delegate INTENDED to vote for the winner of the convention. Any Lucas delegate who INTENDED for Lucas to win and intended to then vote for Lucas could have signed that pledge.
Last I heard we still had privacy in the voting booth and it really isn’t anybody’s business for whom someone is voting. With regard to support, as someone on another thread pointed out, that can be anywhere from 0-100%.
I know several delegates for Julie who went to the convention, checked-in before 8:00 a.m. and almost four hours later still had not voted but had to pick up their children, or relieve babysitters. They said they will never go to a convention again.