Across Virginia, multiple jurisdictions will go into the 2023 election with new Registrars in office. This should be concerning on multiple levels. First, a registrar’s job is vitally important to a well-functioning election process in Virginia and losing years of cumulative experience in favor of outside hires threatens to upend the system. Second, some of the hires appear to reflect a political agenda from Electoral Boards, injecting politics into a non-partisan position.
Stephen Farnsworth, a professor at the University of Mary Washington, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch, “Historically, this wasn’t the kind of problem that it is now” because previous appointees “got along because everybody believed in the mission.” But an injection of partisanship, both on Electoral Boards themselves and in the hiring decisions they make, threatens to undermine the fairness of Virginia’s elections going forward.
In March 2023, the Buckingham County Electoral Board announced it would not be renewing the contract of registrar Lindsey Taylor. She quit in March, along with two part-time employees in the office, joining a deputy registrar who had already resigned. The chair of the Electoral Board, Dr. Karen Cerwinski, hired Luis Gutierrez as the county’s new registrar in April 2023. Gutierrez had previously said Democrats “controlled this county. Even though the county votes red, they control it.” Gutierrez was fired in May 2023 for falsifying his resume and Ginger Chiesa, who had been hired by Gutierrez as his deputy, was appointed first as the county’s interim registrar before being appointed for a four-year term in July.
Christine Gibbons, Lynchburg’s registrar since 2018, sued the Lynchburg Electoral Board’s Vice Chair and Secretary after her contract was not renewed in 2023. In the lawsuit, Gibbons claimed she was not reappointed because she was not part of the Republican Party that “loudly professed” that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.
In her complaint, Gibbons alleged a Republican activist, who later interviewed for the Registrar job, told her “that ‘the tea leaves’ showed” she “would not be reappointed by the new Electoral Board majority” and that Republicans “wanted ‘their own person’” to serve as Registrar. In March 2023, the Electoral Board informed Gibbons that they would solicit resumes for a new registrar and that she would have to reapply.
After posting the position, Electoral Board members Gibbs and Troxel came to the Registrar’s Office to review Gibbons’ past performance evaluations for the first time, according to Gibbons’ complaint. Gibbons was interviewed along with three other candidates including the GOP activist who alluded to “the tea leaves” and Luis Gutierrez who had recently been hired and then fired as General Registrar in Buckingham County for lying on his resume.
Ultimately, the Electoral Board hired Daniel Pense, an individual allegedly with close ties to Gibbs as well as the Lynchburg Republican City Committee.
In 2023, the Pittsylvania County Electoral Board replaced its longtime registrar, Kelly Keesee, leaving her “blindsided” according the Chatham Star-Tribune. Keesee served as registrar and director of elections since 2015.
Pittsylvania’s Electoral Board hired a former Republican legislative staffer who worked for Del. Les Adams, who represents Pittsylvania County in the Virginia General Assembly, to replace Keesee.
Keesee told the Chatham Star-Tribune, “helping new registrars who have no background in elections, we call them the ‘deer in the headlights,’ because you don’t realize what goes into it until you’re in it and then there’s so much you have to learn at the drop of a hat.” She continued, “guiding those people to be successful has been something I’ve enjoyed.” And now Pittsylvania County is back to having a “deer in the headlights” running its 2023 elections.
The Nottoway County Electoral Board made the county’s registrar, Rodney Reynolds, reapply for his job in 2023. The Board also interviewed four other individuals for the position. Reynolds and Electoral Board member Tom Reynolds clashed in 2022 after the Board member tried to bring an observer to “audit” a training session for election workers. Though Reynolds was ultimately reappointed, the Nottoway County Electoral Board’s posturing that it might replace Reynolds for seemingly partisan reasons should be concerning to Virginia voters.