News Release | Fairfax GOP
The Fairfax GOP agrees with a judge’s ruling that Democrat-endorsed Franconia school board candidate Marcia St. John-Cunning should not be on this year’s ballot, owing to numerous irregularities with her Petitions of Qualified Voters.
“Wednesday’s ruling was a clear victory for the rule of law. Voters’ trust in the electoral process – namely, that rules are applied uniformly to all – is vital to the health of our democracy,” said Fairfax GOP Vice Chair for Operations Nick Andersen this afternoon. “We’ve always believed that Kevin Pinkney, our endorsed candidate for school board, was the stronger candidate. Kevin’s level of care and attention to detail with his own campaign shows the distinct difference between a candidate of his caliber and the Fairfax County Democratic Committee’s apparent standard for service in elected office.”
Earlier today, attorney for the plaintiffs Trey Mayfield issued the following statement on the ballot integrity ruling:
“We are pleased that the court recognized that the Election Registrar failed to perform his obligation of ensuring that ballot petitions comply with the plain letter of the law. The ballot petition page in question, which Ms. St. John-Cunning herself signed and swore under penalty of law was correct, had a made-up, imaginary address.
“The law requires that ballot petitions must state the candidate’s address, or the petition is invalid. That ballot petition did not state her address, and thus could not be legally counted toward her candidacy. The public’s confidence in the integrity of our elections depends on the law being applied consistently to all candidates, regardless of party or position. It is the duty of Election Registrar and County Electoral Board to ensure that elections are managed with uniform, law-based standards. They should do so without the courts having to order them to perform those obligations.
“Having obtained a judicial ruling that the Registrar failed to find that petition page invalid, we are grateful for the swift action taken by the Virginia Department of Elections in determining that Ms. St. John-Cunning is disqualified from the ballot, and notifying the public of that fact at polling places and the Registrar’s website.”
Editor’s Note: Fairfax Dems have vowed to mount “an aggressive write-in campaign” to save their troubled Franconia school board candidate. Now more than ever, Republican-endorsed Kevin Pinkney needs our support — visit Pinkney4SchoolBoard.com to donate or volunteer.