After we first posted the story of the firing of 25 year employee Reggie Wilson by the Secretary of the Virginia State Board of Elections Nancy Rodrigues, we received numerous emails describing the top quality work of Mr. Wilson from multiple parties who have firsthand information about what is taking place at the Virginia State Board of Elections.   One reader gave us permission to post this account:

“Today, SBE lost one of its veteran employees, Reggie Wilson.  Mr. Wilson has worked tirelessly advancing elections in Virginia.  As the agency’s Business Manager, he was instrumental in developing the agency’s ability to report election results electronically.  The agency received the Gracie Award in recognition of this achievement.  The agency’s Campaign Finance electronic software application was implemented years ago, in large part, because of Mr. Wilson’s efforts.  While the technology has changed over the years, Mr. Wilson was a visionary who saw a need to move from paper filing to electronic filing.  Mr. Wilson was also the person who established numerous databases throughout the agency to improve the efficiency of the work for various departments at SBE.  However, today, Ms. Rodrigues undermined Mr. Wilson’s accomplished career by tainting Mr. Wilson’s reputation and defaming him.  In her zest to retaliate against Mr. Wilson because of her engagement in improper, illegal  . . .  behavior in procuring the Election Information Services contract, Mr. Rodrigues set out to destroy the livelihood of a dedicated and loyal employee.”

Election Law Center has been monitoring events at the Virginia SBE and has accumulated a great deal of information about mismanagement, abuse and contract corruption at the SBE.  There are apparently individuals who work there, namely the executive director, who could be fired tomorrow for this mess.  So far, it seems that the only people being fired are the hard working employees who make the trains run despite the mismanagement of the agency.

An update  from the Plain Dealer about the dispute between DOJ and Cuyahoga regarding Spanish language ballots there.

From press accounts, it would seem Cuyahoga is in the driver’s seat at this early stage of the dispute.  Firstly, because the election is so close, DOJ would have a very difficult time carrying their burden for a preliminary injunction for the November 2010 election, especially because nothing was done for so long and only on the eve of printing ballots.  Secondly, DOJ would have some significant statistical burdens that would most likely need to be introduced through expert testimony.  For example, the actual number of protected Spanish speakers who really need a Spanish ballot would need to be established.  While that might not be a terribly difficult task, under the time pressures it would be.  Plus there is a question whether DOJ would have even hired an expert this early in the litigation and therefore they would be unprepared to present such testimony.  Remember that this concern is unique to the preliminary injunction phase.  Thirdly, if printing a Spanish language ballot would be $500,000 alone for the upcoming election, or even close to that, Cuyahoga has every incentive to disagree to every remedy proposed by DOJ that would impose such a cost.  There are remedies short of what is now being demanded that would not cost so much, and might provide an opportunity to collect data for Cuyahoga to inform actual need for future elections.  Fourthly, there are some legal uncertainties about 4e triggers and remedial obligations that endanger any movant carrying burdens. 

Either way, because DOJ is running out of time, and because, according to the article, DOJ waited so long to bring the matter, time is now on the side of Cuyahoga and there is no reason to settle the matter.  All of this changes of course after the election when the sound of a ticking clock becomes less relevant.

Sources tell us that a long time veteran of the Virginia State Board of Elections, and an African-American, Reggie Wilson was fired today by Secretary Nancy Rodrigues.  These same sources tell us the firing was not supportable by the facts.  Wilson had been at the SBE for between 10-20 years.  We are told that Rodrigues justified the firing by questioning the competence of the long time employee.

We previously reported on the chaos at the Virginia State Board of Elections here and here and here.

Other sources tell us that more firings may be coming to the Virginia SBE, but this time it might be an office with oversight authority of the SBE firing management of the SBE.  Stay tuned.

Here is my debut piece at the Washington Examiner on Monday.  I remain a contributor at Pajamas Media of course but thought this piece was a nice follow up to Byron York’s articles about the Civil Rights Division here and here.

Apologies for the light blogging the last few days.  I was in Houston giving a speech and meeting a real great group of people I hope to write a piece about soon.  There is some amazing grassroots work being done in Houston by some bright and dedicated people who dearly love this country.  I also can’t say enough about the incredible hospitality I received there and the humbling response to my visit.  I don’t often get to speak to a crowd of hundreds, so to all of you who came out on a weeknight to hear me, I was humbled and impressed with your passion and your heartfelt words.  Thank you.  I will be appearing at other locations around the country in the coming weeks to speak, and Houston will be a tough act to follow. 

Lastly, while I was there, I appeared on KSEV-AM on the Dan Patrick show. If anyone knows if an audio archive exists, feel free to email me.  It was the 5pm hour on August 9.

Once exiled from the New Black Panthers, then welcomed back as a brother, King Samir Shabazz appeared at a press conference yesterday with Malik Zulu Shabazz.  King Samir Shabazz offered his opinion about who was responsible for drawing attention to his activities: 

“You call me a white hating bigot? Let me tell you who King Samir really is,” he said, describing himself an activist and hip hop artist who spends most of his time caring for his children.

“That’s what you don’t hear from Fox Jews, I mean Fox News,” he said.

Congresman Lamar Smith continues to address the black panther matter.

The Plain Dealer has more.

“Cuyahoga County is considering whether to print bilingual ballots for the November election, after the U.S. Department of Justice threatened to sue the Board of Elections, according to the board.

‘They just dropped it on us,’ said Rob Frost, a Republican elections board member who met last month with Justice Department representatives. ‘They were essentially saying we’d like you to decide on this very quickly.'”

Obviously the reason DOJ wants them to decide very quickly is because they will have a very difficult time proving a case in a preliminary injunction posture prior to November given the uncertainties of 4e obligations and remedies, particularly with the statistical data.  An expert would need to be prepared quickly.

I’ll be on the Pat McDonough show on WCBM 680-am Baltimore Saturday evening at 8 to talk about Maryland’s decision to seek a waiver from protecting military voters.  I have learned that Maryland officials decided as far back as last January that they would not comply with the new law protecting military voters, but did nothing whatsoever to remedy the problem.  I will be discussing this, as well as the Pentagon’s pending decision whether or not to grant the Maryland waiver.

John Fund has more on vote fraud in Bell (CA) in the Wall Street Journal.

Voters report in the LA Times that city police and elected officials in Bell (CA) came and had them sign absentee ballot forms but never asked them to vote the ballot itself.  Among the allegations that city elected officials participated in this activity, and city police officers:

“A 42-year-old Bell woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Times that a Bell police officer and two other people came to her door in 2007 before a City Council election. The officer, she said, told her she should support Hernandez and Councilman Victor Bello and asked her to sign a form. She agreed to sign even though she said she was not sure exactly what the form said.

A few weeks later, when she and her husband went to cast their ballots on election day, poll workers told her she had already voted absentee. The poll worker told her the vote could be canceled, and she voted again.”