BREAKING: Good VA-05 campaign questions Albemarle Registrar regarding closed-door Electoral Board meeting

The still-undecided and hotly contested Republican primary for Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District just got hotter.

Thus far, election results show challenger John McGuire leading incumbent Bob Good by 322 votes out of approximately 62,556 cast district-wide. The Good campaign has launched several lines of inquest in seeking veracity of the vote count and the votes counted.

At immediate issue are allegations that an Albemarle County Electoral Board meeting was held on Wednesday, June 19 at noon, and that the Good campaign was neither notified of nor present for that meeting. A McGuire campaign representative reportedly was in attendance for part or all of the noon meeting.

In a June 21 letter obtained by The Schilling Show, Good campaign attorney, Katherine A. Decker, poses a series of questions to Albemarle County Registrar, Lauren Eddy, seeking clarification about the meeting itself and the office’s notification procedures, as follows:

RE: June 18^th Primary

Dear Ms. Eddy,

I represent Bob Good for Congress. This past Wednesday, June 19th, an observer for the campaign, Waverly Woods, arrived at 2:00pm for the canvass per the schedule listed on your website. However, upon arrival she was notified by Jeff Hellman that the canvass had in fact started at 12pm. There was an observer present for John McGuire’s campaign prior to Ms. Woods arrival. Diana Shores, Sr. Advisor and Campaign Manager, called your office and was informed that the provisional ballots had been reviewed in the absence of the campaign’s observer and outside of the public notice time.

With regards to this matter, we request that you answer the following questions:

1. 1. Why did the canvass start earlier than the time listed on the public notice on the website?
   2. When did the electoral board or the registrar decide to start earlier than the listed time?
   3. Why, when, and how was the McGuire campaign informed of the early start time?
   4. Why was the Bob Good campaign not informed of the earlier start time?
   5. What other members of the public were notified of the new start time?
   6. How were other members of the public notified of the new start time?
   7. Who was in fact present when the early canvass activities started?
   8. How many provisional ballots were counted prior to 2pm?
   9. Why was the counting of provisional ballots considered a closed meeting?
   10. Why were both campaigns not expressly notified of the 12pm meeting?
   11. Why was the campaign’s observer instructed by Electoral Board member Clara Bell Wheeler not to record the public meeting?

Please respond to these questions by 12:00 p.m. Tuesday, June 25, 2024. If we do not receive a response by 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 25, we may take legal action.

Sincerely,

Katherine A. Decker

In addition to questions about the Albemarle County meeting detailed above, the Good campaign also is investigating reports of election day fire alarms being sounded at three District precincts, which led to the temporary closure of the subject precincts during voting hours.

This is a developing story; updates will be posted as available.