Virginia
After HR probe, Richmond officials suggest ‘restructuring’ of election office • Virginia Mercury
Human resources officials in the city of Richmond recommended an “immediate departmental restructuring” of the city election office after an internal investigation concluded the city’s registrar and deputy registrar violated nepotism and ethics policies.
The results of the HR investigation into the Richmond election office — which is separate from a more far-reaching probe underway by Richmond’s inspector general — were sent to state and local election officials on Tuesday. The Virginia Mercury obtained copies of the findings through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Richmond inspector general investigating city’s elections office
During the investigation, Registrar Keith Balmer verified nepotism allegations lodged against his office from three ex-employees, the documents show. It was their complaints that initiated the HR review, which produced three similarly worded investigative reports on the complaints and a summary of the findings.
The recommendation for a swift reshuffling of staff, including the proposed “transfer or removal” of all employees in a line of supervision that includes a family member, suggests a shakeup could be coming to the office that runs elections in Virginia’s capital city.
Though none of the allegations deal directly with voting or ballots, registrars are typically expected to be sticklers for following protocol given the sensitive, high-security nature of their work.
The management issues in Richmond are also bubbling up during a presidential year, when election officials around the country are at their busiest.
The Richmond controversy highlights the at-times confusing lines of supervision for registrars, who are hired and fired by unelected boards made up of appointees picked by local political parties and confirmed by judges. Though Balmer doesn’t report to City Hall or Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, the city’s investigation says he’s still subject to city policies.
In an interview Wednesday evening, Richmond Electoral Board Chairman John Ambrose said he and the rest of the board that oversees Balmer’s office had received the findings and would consider them as part of Balmer’s annual evaluation in July.
“Since we have an election next week on June 18 and the priority for the board is the correct and transparent conduct of the June 18 primary I don’t think it’s appropriate to take any emergency action at this time,” Ambrose said.
The nepotism accusations were laid out in a document titled “Nepotism Tree,” which says Balmer hired his brother and one of his brother’s friends to jobs in the election office. The office also contracted with a company owned by Balmer’s wife to provide training on how to accommodate voters with disabilities. That contract, amounting to $2,300, didn’t go through the city’s procurement office, according to the records.
Two grandchildren of Deputy General Registrar Jerry Richardson, the second-in-command, work in the office, as do several people connected to the grandchildren, according to the “Nepotism Tree” document both Balmer and Richardson confirmed as accurate to city officials.
Richardson’s grandson, Christian Javins, works as the office’s elections services manager. Javins’s girlfriend, Kara Wilson, works as a policy analyst. A cousin of Wilson’s and a longtime friend of Richardson’s also work in the office, according to the records, which detail several other familial relationships among lower-level employees.
City HR officials found that people with ties to Balmer and Richardson “were hired or promoted without transparent and fair recruitment processes.”
“Favoritism towards relatives of senior management undermined the principles of fairness, impartiality and equal opportunity for all employees,” city officials wrote in reports dated May 16. The reports were signed by Employee Relations Investigator Josh Underwood and HR Division Chief Timeko Hunte-Brown.
Though the HR investigation appeared to be completed last month, the city sent a “notice of investigative findings” this week to state and local election officials who work with Balmer.
Balmer said Wednesday evening that he had not yet reviewed the HR findings. He noted that, apart from his brother, the other family connections in the office predate his time as registrar, which started in 2021.
“I will ensure that no family member reports directly to a family member,” Balmer said in an email.
City HR policies set broader limits than that, aiming to prevent employees from making decisions that could benefit a relative “regardless of the working relationship.”
“Any employee with supervisory responsibilities shall not have a family member under their scope of responsibility,” the policy says.
Both Balmer and Richardson acknowledged to HR officials that people in their office often got jobs after recommendations from existing staff, according to the records. Richardson also indicated the office didn’t have a formal interview process for open positions and said it was “common practice for just a conversation as an interview.”
“Their failure to maintain transparency in hiring practices and neglect to address employee concerns violated the trust and integrity expected from organizational leaders,” the HR reports say.
The three former employees who complained about the office’s management also alleged they suffered retaliatory firings after raising concerns about nepotism and other issues. City HR officials ruled those claims unfounded, while noting that registrars can hire and fire employees at will and faulting the office for being unable to provide clear documentation laying out why the workers were let go.
Balmer told officials the three employees were terminated because of issues with their performance.
Investigators ruled Balmer and Richardson violated two city administrative regulations. One is an anti-nepotism policy meant to prevent preferential treatment for relatives and ensure employees don’t supervise their relatives. The other is a more general ethics policy outlining rules against using public office for personal gain and conduct that inhibits “the confidence of the public in the integrity of government.”
The investigation also revealed that Richardson had sold Kate Spade purses, wallets and money clips to employees during work hours to raise money for a nonprofit animal rescue organization she runs. The cost of the items ranged from $20 to more than $100.
“Considering Richardson’s managerial role, selling items on city time to employees that are within her chain of command may give the perception of favoritism for those who purchase from Richardson or create an environment in which employees feel purchasing the items to be obligatory,” the report says.
Richmond HR officials recommended “an immediate departmental restructuring to correct any nepotism,” the implementation of more thorough hiring practices to ensure jobs are awarded on “merit and qualifications,” mandatory training on ethics and other city policies and potential discipline for those involved.
It’s unclear when Richmond’s Office of the Inspector General is expected to complete its investigation into the election office.
City officials suspended government credit cards issued to the registrar’s office after concerns were raised about improper spending, much of which has been reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The inspector general is believed to be looking at that issue and others that deal with finances and accusations of improper conduct that go beyond HR rules.
The reports issued by HR officials point to some of those other allegations.
One of the ex-employees who filed a complaint also alleged his former co-workers took unused copper wire from the building that houses the elections office and sold it for scrap.
A footnote in the HR report says an investigator in the inspector general’s office didn’t seem too concerned about that claim because “the copper wires were considered trash.”
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Virginia
Virginia Tech women overcome slow start to rally past Georgia Tech in ACC Tournament opener
DULUTH, Ga. (WDBJ/Hokie Sports) – Sixth-seeded Virginia Tech fought back from a 14-point deficit late in the first quarter, rallying for a 62-54 victory over No. 11 seed Georgia Tech in the second round of the 2026 Ally ACC Women’s Tournament Thursday evening.
The Hokies, who move to 23-8 overall on the season, earned their first ACC Tournament victory in the Megan Duffy era. Tech moves on to the quarterfinal round for the first time since 2024.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Virginia Tech faced a four-point deficit until Leila Wells (7:15) stepped up for a three-pointer to keep the Hokies within reach early. Her triple would be Tech’s only field goal until the final 40 seconds of the opening quarter. Carleigh Wenzel provided a late spark for the Hokies, getting down the lane (0:40) and hitting a basket (0:18) in the final minute to stop the run, but Georgia Tech carried a 17–7 lead into the second quarter.
Playing inspired, the Hokies sprinted out of the break for five straight points with layups from Samyha Suffren (9:50) and Mackenzie Nelson (9:28), along with a make at the stripe from Wenzel, to close to 17-12 at the 8:12 mark. The momentum continued to swing in Tech’s favor as it ripped off 15 straight points, a run ignited by Suffren’s (7:44) fast-break lay-in and capped by a Carys Baker (1:33) triple to give the Hokies a 27-19 lead. Free throws closed out the half for both sides as Virginia Tech headed into the locker room with a 29-23 edge. The Hokies forced six turnovers in the second period, scoring 10 points off the Yellow Jackets’ miscues.
Both sides traded baskets to kick off the second half before Tech knocked down consecutive makes from beyond the arc, the first from Wells (8:31) and the second from Nelson (7:59), to stretch the advantage to double figures, 37-27. It remained a back-and-forth game until Baker’s free throws with 3:35 remaining in the period gave the Hokies their largest lead of the contest at 48-37. Georgia Tech closed out the frame scoring six unanswered as the margin narrowed to 50-46 in favor of Tech at the end of the third.
The Yellow Jackets’ run continued into the fourth quarter as the score moved to 50-48 at the 9:26 mark. Virginia Tech rattled off seven consecutive points, including a three-pointer from Wenzel (7:08), to push ahead by nine with 4:44 remaining, 57-48. Suffren pulled up for a jumper outside the paint with just over a minute left in the contest, but Georgia Tech finished with a layup at the buzzer as Virginia Tech closed out the 62-54 victory.
GAME NOTES
- Virginia Tech won their first game as a six-seed in the ACC Tournament (1-0) and first against Georgia Tech (1-2) in program history
- The Hokies have now won four of their last five opening contests in the conference tournament
- Tech also earned their first ACC Tournament victory in the Megan Duffy era
- Virginia Tech controlled the glass, 41-36
- The Hokies held the Yellow Jackets to six points in the second quarter, matching the fewest by an opponent in a quarter this season (last versus Loyola MD on Nov. 9, 2025)
- Guard Carleigh Wenzel paced Tech in scoring with 15 points for her 15th-straight game in double figures
- Redshirt sophomore Mackenzie Nelson followed with a near double-double of 14 points and a career-high nine rebounds
- Nelson also tallied six assists, two assists, one block, and committed zero turnovers
- Guard Leila Wells put together eight points and a career-best six rebounds in 15 minutes of action
- Samyha Suffren registered her career-best five assists
UP NEXT
Virginia Tech advances to the Quarterfinal Round of the 2026 Ally ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament Friday, March 6 against third-seeded North Carolina at 7:30 p.m. on ACC Network.
Copyright 2026 WDBJ. All rights reserved.
Former President Barack Obama is calling on voters in Virginia to support a ballot measure this spring that would change the commonwealth’s constitution and cause new congressional district boundaries benefiting Democrats to be used in this fall’s midterm elections.
In a video posted to social media on Thursday morning, Obama noted the surge of mid-decade redistricting started last year when Texas Republicans started work to shift five Democratic seats and make them more favorable to Republicans.
Since then, California Democrats were able to redraw the lines involving five GOP-held seats to try and offset Texas’ gerrymander. Republicans in North Carolina and Missouri last year also altered a Democratic-held seat in each of their respective states to try and help the GOP.
“In April, Virginians can respond by making sure your voting power is not diminished by what Republicans are doing in other states,” Obama, a Democrat, said in the video. “This amendment gives you the power to level the playing field in the midterms this fall.”
Republicans hold a narrow majority in the U.S. House and are contending with the prospect of losing control of the chamber this fall when every seat is on the ballot.
Virginia Democrats’ redistricting effort has proven to be a lengthy process, and legal concerns have surrounded much of the work and thrown some uncertainty into the outcome. The commonwealth’s map in place at the moment resulted in six House seats for Democrats in the 2024 election and five for Republicans. Plans offered by elected Democratic leaders this year would try and shift those lines in a way that could result in sending 10 Democrats back to the House and just one Republican.
“Democrats’ illegal gerrymandering power grab is an affront to democracy and rigs our maps to turn Virginia into a one-party state,” the Republican Party of Virginia said last month on social media, adding “It is an intentional effort to silence and disenfranchise half our Commonwealth.”
After the 2020 Census, both Democratic and Republican led states indulged in the well-worn practice of gerrymandering, drawing districts that favored their own parties and lessening the chances of competitive races.
But the series of mid-decade redraws impacting the 2026 midterms essentially represent a break from tradition and have put Democrats in the position of having to backtrack on some of their past messaging on the issue. “For too long, gerrymandering has contributed to stalled progress and warped our representative government,” Obama himself said on social media in 2020.
A statewide vote is set for April 21 on whether to change Virginia’s constitution and give the General Assembly the ability to change the maps just months before general election contests will be held. Early voting is set to start Friday.
Virginia is more of a purple state, and it’s unclear what will happen to the constitutional amendment in the April 21 special election. Republicans widely oppose the effort, and additional congressional redistricting in GOP-led Florida could lessen the impact of any changes made in Virginia.
Arlington, Virginia, resident Anjali Sharma — stuck in the Middle Eastern since Saturday — documents her story on social media from a hotel in Doha, Qatar.
“I think it really hit me when I saw black smoke coming from afar on one of the buildings, and it ended up being a missile that got defused, and the debris fell on the ground and caused an explosion,” Sharma said.
She was on her way to a wedding in India and had a layover in Qatar when Iran’s retaliatory strikes began. The airspace in Qatar and several other nearby countries is closed.
Sharma is alone. She says the rest of her family she was supposed to meet with had their flights canceled.
She says it’s incredibly unsettling.
“I hear explosions every day,” Sharma said. “I hear planes going outside. I mean, I still hear military jets, right now. I don’t really know what that means.”
She is one of several thousands of Americans stranded in the Middle East. The State Department said it’s assisted almost 6,500 Americans since the conflict began.
Sharma says she hasn’t been able to get any clear guidance.
“I would just really appreciate it if the U.S. government could get clear guidelines of what they’re going to do to get us out and when that even may be,” she said.
U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., has been critical of the Trump administration’s evacuation efforts. He says his office has heard from about 100 families whose loved ones are stranded abroad.
“The primary reason the State Department exists is to serve Americans living abroad, and they’re desperately failing at that, right now,” he said.
The White House said the secretary of state issued Level 4 travel advisories dating to January. But Qatar was not one of the countries given a do-not-travel advisory.
The State Department Wednesday created a new form for stranded citizens to fill out. They say it will provide departure information about available aviation and ground transportation options.
Sharma hopes it’s her ticket out.
“I just want to get out of here safely at this point.”
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