Virginia Proposed a Rule Change Allowing Late Ballots with No Postmarks. Here's what a Judge Had to Say.

Matt Vespa | January 27, 2021 4:55 PM

It’s not going to overturn the results of the 2020 election, but a judge has ruled that the Virginia Board of Elections broke the law during the 2020 cycle. The board had permitted ballots without postmarks that arrived three days after Election Day to be counted through a proposed rule change last summer. The legal challenge was filed by the Public Interest Legal Foundation, who called the decision a big win for the rule of law (via Daily Caller):

The Virginia Board of Elections rule allowing officials to count ballots that arrived without a postmark up to three days after the election was illegal, a state judge ruled.
Virginia Circuit Court Judge William Eldridge ruled the state’s late mail-in ballot law violated state statute and permanently banned the law in future Virginia elections, the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) announced Monday. PILF sued the state’s board of elections in October on behalf of Thomas Reed, a Frederick County, Virginia election official.
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The board of elections proposed the rule during an Aug. 4 meeting and related guidance was sent to election officials statewide on Aug. 13 informing them of the change. PILF sued on behalf of Reed on Oct. 9, according to a news release.

The publication added that Reed’s lawsuit prevented those ballots from being counted. It will prevent any potential funny business from tainting the 2021 gubernatorial and state legislature races as well. It just shows that you need to watch these election boards like hawks. At the same time, it’s not all that comforting since Democrats are probably going to keep the governorship in Virginia and potentially increase their majority in the House of Delegates and Senate. I don’t mean to be an Eeyore here, but we’ve gone from a competitive state to a blue one. The power of the Northern Virginia suburbs grows at the expense of everyone else and they’re all liberals up here. With Amazon coming up here soon, it’s bound to pad those vote totals for Democrats. So, the good news is that the rule of law won in court. The bad news is that Democrats probably don’t need to cheat in Virginia to win here.