Bob Good accuses Lynchburg elections office of improper conduct (2024)

U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-5th, plans to file a legal challenge to block certification of the Republican primary election in Lynchburg, the congressman said this week.

In an appearance on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast on Monday, Good said “there is no confidence in Lynchburg’s results” in the June 18 Republican primary election between him and state Sen. John McGuire for the 5th Congressional District.

“We’re going to make the legal challenge in a couple of days to make sure Lynchburg, the biggest city [in the 5th District], can’t be certified,” he said.

As of Wednesday, more than a week after the primary, McGuire, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, led Good by 374 votes out of nearly 63,000 ballots counted, a margin of 0.6%, according to the state Department of Elections.

The current count in the Republican primary puts Good within the 1% margin that would allow him to request a recount at his campaign’s expense, but above the 0.5% threshold that would require state or local officials to pay for it.

The Associated Press and other major news organizations have yet to call a winner of the race between Good and McGuire. On election night, though, McGuire declared victory in the race.

Good, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said in the interview with Bannon that he will file a legal challenge with Virginia election officials to block certification of the 5th District Republican primary result, along with pursuing the recount of ballots cast in the primary.

Good pointed to an absentee ballot drop box at the registrar’s office in Lynchburg left accessible to the public for two days after the June 18 primary election. The registrar’s office described the decision to leave the drop box open to voters as a “procedural error.”

“They did not secure their drop boxes,” Good said. “There’s no accountability for when those boxes were open. They were apparently left to be stuffed for two or three days after the election.”

Virginia law says ballots cannot be accepted at drop boxes after 7 p.m. on the day of the election.

“The bottom line is we can’t certify this election, and there’s great concern of inappropriate activity relative to the biggest city in the district — Lynchburg City,” Good told Bannon, Trump’s longtime adviser and confidant.

The issues with the ballot drop box in Lynchburg also delayed the counting of votes in the Ward IV city council Republican primary between incumbent Vice Mayor and Councilor Chris Faraldi and challenger Peter Alexander.

Good noted he won the most votes in Lynchburg — “it’s my home base” — but not by the margin he thought he would.

The Lynchburg results show Good with 3,030 votes, or 58.01% of the total, compared to 2,193 votes from city voters, or 41.99% for McGuire.

Good also has cited the triggering of fire alarms that disrupted voting at precincts in Lynchburg, Albemarle County and Hanover County on election day as potentially affecting the outcome of the 5th Congressional District primary election.

“We’re going to do everything, Steve, to try to block certification in this election, to have a full investigation of the evidence of some potential malfeasance here and make sure this election actually reflects the intent of the voters who legitimately and legally participated,” he told Bannon.

In the podcast, Bannon said he grows concerned with how the general election in November will be managed by election officials when he sees “what’s happening” in jurisdictions such as Lynchburg.

“Bottom line is, Steve, this has exposed our vulnerability for November. Our elections are not secure,” Good said.

In the current national political climate, Republican candidates making claims of election fraud and wrongdoing is expected, said David Richards, chair of the international relations and political science department at the University of Lynchburg.

In the case of the Republican primaries for the 5th Congressional District and Ward IV on city council, it is a Lynchburg Electoral Board with two Republicans and one Democrat that has been targeted with complaints.

In an interview with The News & Advance, Richards said he has worked with the Lynchburg registrar’s office and believes it is “run pretty well.”

“I can’t imagine there are widespread issues,” he said.

At Tuesday night’s Lynchburg City Council meeting, Daniel Pense, the city’s general registrar, told councilmembers he believes his office will be prepared to handle the general election in November.

Pense was speaking in response to the city council appropriating additional funds to the registrar’s office and other city departments as part of adjustments to the city’s fiscal year 2024 budget.

In response to a question from At-Large Councilor Martin Misjuns about whether the registrar’s office has enough staff for the general election, Pense responded, “With the right amount of temporary staff, we’re OK.”

For the presidential primary in March and the June 18 primary for city council and federal offices, voter turnout was light. But Pense said he is expecting a much higher turnout in the November election.

“As long as I’m able to use [the city] budget to hire enough temporary staff — that will contract and expand as the need is there — I’m adequate with that,” he said about his office’s current staffing plans.