Election probe targets 'unusual' reports in wake of Virginia redistricting referendum: AFPI

By Fox News · Fox News

A political advocacy group is launching an investigation into mail-in ballot practices in Virginia after a narrow "Yes" victory on a redistricting referendum raised questions about election procedures. Final results in last week's contest showed voters narrowly approved of Democrats’ effort to redraw Virginia’s congressional map for at least the next four years with heavy geographical and population-based preference given to dense, Democratic-majority areas like Richmond-Petersburg, Hampton Roads and the suburbs of Washington, D.C. While the election is again in the hands of the courts over procedural and ballot-language-related concerns — at both the county and state Supreme Court levels — the America First Policy Institute issued legally binding records requests to several key counties across the commonwealth, from Christiansburg to Ashburn. "If we don't have secure elections , then we won't have a country," Leigh Ann O’Neill, chief legal affairs officer for AFPI, told Fox News Digital in an interview. NEW DEM STAR'S QUICK HARD-LEFT TURN AFTER 'MODERATE' CAMPAIGN WON HER COVETED RESPONSE TO TRUMP: LAWMAKER "And so that is a very high priority for us. And we are very invested in making sure that all the proper procedures are always followed in elections. And that's, of course, no different with respect to this referendum in Virginia." AFPI’s investigation is asking election officials to turn over communications regarding how mail-in and absentee balloting was administered during the election — which had a several-week early-voting window . Factors the group is interested in include how ballots were stored, guidance given to county officials, how ballots were distributed and accepted and so forth. O’Neill said AFPI acted upon reports including online where people were pointing out alleged discrepancies and "unusual mail-in ballot counts" from some counties. Late in the evening, Virginia’s largest county — Fairfax — reported a tranche of votes that helped "Yes" acro…