Virginia

Former elections official in Virginia sues the state attorney general

Published

1 month ago

October 17, 2024

Former elections official in Virginia sues the state attorney general

A Virginia elections official who faced criminal charges, later dropped, over a botched vote count in the 2020 presidential election sued the state attorney general Thursday, alleging malicious prosecution.

Michele White says in the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Richmond, that her prosecution by Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares was “celebrated” by supporters of former President Donald Trump who claimed fraud in the vote count and “by those associated with the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement as a validation of their message.” The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages.

Miyares’ office did not immediately respond to an email Thursday seeking comment.

White was the registrar in Prince William County, Virginia’s second-most populous county, in 2020. Miyares indicted White in 2022 on charges of corrupt conduct, making a false statement and willful neglect of duty for errors in the county’s 2020 vote count.

At the time, there was little explanation in court papers or from public officials about exactly what went wrong with the vote count. The criminal case against White disintegrated, and in January prosecutors dropped all charges against White.

It was then that Prince William County election officials finally revealed what had gone wrong in the count. In the presidential race, the county mistakenly shorted Joe Biden by 1,648 votes and overreported Trump’s count by 2,327. The 3,975-vote error in the margin of victory was immaterial in a contest that Biden won by 450,000 votes in Virginia and more than 60,000 votes in Prince William County.

Counts were off by lesser margins in a U.S. Senate and a congressional race.

White’s successor as county registrar, Eric Olsen, said the majority of errors occurred in “split precincts,” in which one precinct is home to two congressional districts. The county’s voting system did not split the presidential vote by congressional district. The state system required them to be split that way. The errors occurred in trying to conform the county data with the state requirements, Olsen said.

White’s lawsuit contends that she was unfairly demonized even though she was not personally responsible for the errors, and that her prosecution was used to justify the existence of Miyares’ Election Integrity Unit and placate his Republican base.

“Miyares campaigned on promises to investigate so-called threats to election integrity and fight ‘election fraud,’ echoing more explicit calls from political extremists who baselessly call into question the integrity and validity of the 2020 election,” the lawsuit alleges.

Corey Stoughton, one of White’s lawyers, who is working with a group called Protect Democracy in filing the lawsuit, said in a phone interview that White’s prosecution “created the justification for voters to continue to be deceived” about the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

The case against White was the only criminal prosecution brought by the Election Integrity Unit, which Miyares formed in 2022.

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Virginia

Obituary for Virginia Frances Stoots at Beckley Peace Chapel

Published

2 hours ago

November 19, 2024

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Obituary for Virginia Frances Stoots at Beckley Peace Chapel

Virginia Frances Stoots, age 81, of Beckley, WV received her heavenly promotion to be eternally with the Lord on Saturday, November 16, 2024. Born in Hotchkiss, WV on May 11, 1943, she was the daughter of the late Arnold Hatfield and Margaret Archie. Virginia was a retired manager from Ginos

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Virginia

15-year-old accused of shooting teen near Lake Edward in Virginia Beach

Published

9 hours ago

November 18, 2024

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15-year-old accused of shooting teen near Lake Edward in Virginia Beach

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A 15-year-old boy is charged with shooting a teen over a week ago near Lake Edward in Virginia Beach, police say.

The shooting happened just before 7 p.m. on Sunday, November 10 in the 5000 block of W. Hastings Arch.

Police say officers responded to the shooting following an alert from ShotSpotter, which is technology that can detect gunshots.

Watch related coverage: Suspect arrested in deadly shooting at busy Portsmouth intersection

Suspect arrested in deadly shooting at busy Portsmouth intersection

Officers then found a 15-year-old boy from Virginia Beach who had been shot, police say. He was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

Last Thursday, police charged a boy — also a 15-year-old from Virginia Beach — in connection to the shooting. He’s charged with malicious wounding and use of a firearm in commission of a felony, police added.

The shooting is still under investigation. Police ask anyone with information to call detectives at 757-385-4101 or Crime Solvers at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.

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Virginia

Bowl Projections: West Virginia’s Stock Takes Big Hit Following Latest Loss

Published

17 hours ago

November 18, 2024

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Bowl Projections: West Virginia’s Stock Takes Big Hit Following Latest Loss

Another wasted opportunity at home for the West Virginia Mountaineers this past weekend as they fell to the Baylor Bears, 49-35.

Much of the conversation entering the week was about who head coach Neal Brown would start at quarterback. He turned back to Garrett Greene, who had an okay day throwing the football but did add over 120 yards on the ground to help fuel the Mountaineers’ offensive attack. It wasn’t his best overall performance, but it was more than enough to win.

Unfortunately, West Virginia’s defense returned to its struggling ways, allowing 512 yards of offense, 329 of which came through the air. Baylor’s 35 first-half points were the most of any Big 12 team in a league game this season.

With the loss, the Mountaineers essentially eliminated themselves from a spot in the Big 12 championship game, and their bowl stock took a massive hit.

Action Network: Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl vs. Army

Athlon Sports: Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl vs. Tulane

CBS Sports: Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl vs. Army

College Football Network: SERVPRO First Responder Bowl vs. East Carolina

College Football News: AutoZone Liberty Bowl vs. Vanderbilt

ESPN (Kyle Bonagura): Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl vs. Washington

ESPN (Mark Schlabach): Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl vs. Louisiana

West Virginia On SI: AutoZone Liberty Bowl vs. Arkansas

The Mountaineers have two games remaining in the regular season and must notch one more win to become bowl-eligible. This week, they’ll play host to the UCF Knights, who were everyone’s dark horse to win the Big 12 back in August. After getting out to a 3-0 start, the Knights lost five straight.

Despite most sportsbooks opening this week’s game with UCF as the favorite, I like West Virginia’s chances to get the win. They are a run-heavy team, and that’s the one thing the Mountaineer defense does fairly well.

If they fail to collect win No. 6 this weekend, it’ll all come down to their trip to Lubbock the following week. Texas Tech has Oklahoma State this Saturday and will likely be gunning for win No. 8 when West Virginia comes to town. If the Red Raiders win out, that will be their best regular season finish since 2009.

1. Valero Alamo Bowl vs Pac-12, Saturday, Dec. 28, 7:30 p.m. EST, ABC

2. Pop-Tarts Bowl vs ACC/ND, Saturday, Dec. 28, 3:30 p.m. EST, ABC

3. TaxAct Texas Bowl vs SEC, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 3:30 p.m. EST, ESPN

4. AutoZone Liberty Bowl vs SEC, Friday, Dec. 27, 7:00 p.m. EST, ESPN

5. Guaranteed Rate Bowl vs Big Ten, Thursday, Dec. 26, 5:30 p.m. EST, ESPN

6. Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl vs. Pac 12, Saturday, Dec. 28, 9:15 p.m. EST, ESPN