Lynchburg Republicans are challenging a state election law they say violates their First Amendment rights. It’s not the first time they’ve challenged the measure which advocates say was intended to make it easier for overseas voters.
Delegate Dan Helmer says he passed the law in 2021 to make sure veterans, and other overseas voters are included in primary elections.
“I believe service members who like me have served in places like Afghanistan Iraq and elsewhere ought to have the ability to select their nominee and that's what this bill is about,” Helmer told Radio IQ.
But Rick Boyer, an attorney representing the Lynchburg City Republican Committee, says the law forces the use of open primaries, instead of mass meetings or conventions. That opens the system up to manipulation and violates the party’s First Amendment rights.
“So, you have a major problem with crossover voting where Democrats will try to crash a Republican primary, or Republicans will crash a Democrat primary," Boyer told Radio IQ. "And it's just a huge affront to the free association rights of the party.”
In a lawsuit filed against Virginia’s Department of Elections in federal court this week, Boyer points to other close primary elections as grounds for concern, including a recent Lynchburg City Council race whose tight margins he alleges were impacted by cross party voting. He says the possibility of non-Republican voters in the primary process dilutes party members’ voting power.
This isn’t the first time the GOP tried to overcome the law. Last year Delegate Todd Gilbert asked Attorney General Jason Miyares to review it. In an opinion from the AG’s office Miyares said quote “As with many state laws regulating candidate nomination processes, current [law] thus enhances the democratic character of the election process by ensuring that eligible covered voters have access to candidate nomination procedures."
But a federal judge may get the chance to decide otherwise.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
