Shady Dealings by the Fairfax Electoral Board

By Krystle Weeks | Saturday, January 9th, 2010 | Politics

By now, most of you know that Dave Marsden has moved three miles down the road from his house in Burke to a basement in a supporter’s house within the 37^th District. Yes, this is considered carpetbagging and shows that he had to move to run for the seat.

After The Washington Post wrote an article about Marsden’s housing arrangements, I noticed that a resident of the 37^th District filed a challenge to the Fairfax Electoral Board requesting that the board cancel Marsden’s voting registration, as he did not meet the district’s residency requirements. Of course, the Fairfax Electoral Board is doing nothing to investigate this situation.

This is odd considering that a year ago, three Alexandria residents challenged Alicia Hughes on the residency requirements by submitting petitions challenging whether Hughes’ voter registration with the Alexandria Registrar. The Alexandria Registrar, who ultimately upheld Hughes’ registration, required that both the petitioners and Hughes’ attorneys file briefs and appear at a hearing before making a decision. You can read the accounts of this here, here, and here.

Under the Virginia Code, any three registered voters can challenge any other voter’s registration if they have good faith cause to believe that it’s improper. There is no doubt that more than one resident in the 37^th District could join in the challenge to Marsden’s voter registration. Why won’t the Fairfax Registrar follow the lead of the Alexandria Registrar and look at the evidence, then make a decision?

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