State senator refuses to concede GOP primary until issues with early voting are resolved
CHESTERFIELD – Even though she was not declared the winner in Tuesday’s primary, state Sen. Amanda Chase is not going down without a fight.
Late Wednesday, Chase, R-Chesterfield, said she would challenge the results of the primary, claiming that the computers used during the 45-day early voting period were noncompliant with state election law. She said she was not asking for a recount because “a recount won’t solve the problem.”
Until then, Chase said she will not concede the contest.
Chase, bidding for a third term, narrowly lost to former state Sen. Glen Sturtevant in the Republican primary for the 12th Senate District, which covers Colonial Heights and western Chesterfield County. The final count was 8,515 votes, or 39.47%, for Sturtevant and 8,169 votes, or 37.86% for Chase.
Tina Ramirez finished a distant third in the race.
State Department of Election records indicated that Chase was leading Sturtevant by 415 votes after ballots cast on Tuesday were counted. When the early and absentee votes were tallied, Sturtevant outpolled Chase by 335 and 426 votes, respectively, and that turned the primary in his favor.
Chase said the machines used by Chesterfield County for the early voting – a DS200 vote tabulator and scanner, and the ExpressVote universal voting system – have not been certified as proper election equipment in Virginia. However, it is the same system used in other Virginia localities, including Petersburg.
"No voter should have been voting early on those voting computers until they were in compliance with Virginia State law,” Chase said late Wednesday.
Chase also has long-standing issues with the early voting process in Chesterfield, saying as early as May 15 that she had “zero confidence” in how the early votes were recorded. Additionally, she complained that Sturtevant’s campaign manager was chosen as the only Republican to certify the early voting machines.
“We will never know for sure if there were bad actors in the early voting certification process,” Chase said. “We're asking for those who acted illegally to be held accountable for their unethical actions during early voting.”
She singled out Chesterfield GOP chair Leslie Haley and the Sturtevant campaign in Wednesday’s announcement, saying both “should be held accountable for their lack of judgment and clear conflict of interest” in certifying the voting systems.
An election challenge is different than a recount. In a recount, the votes cast on Election Day are just retabulated to confirm the total. Challenges cover anything having to do with the voting process itself.
Recounts can be requested by the losing candidate at the state's expense if the margin of defeat is 1% or less. The margin in this primary is 1.6%
Chase, a right-wing champion and an ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump, does not caucus with Senate Republicans despite her party affiliation. She was censured by the Virginia Senate in 2021 for conduct unbecoming of a state senator when she spoke out against the legitimacy of President Joe Biden’s election over Trump in 2020 and attended the Jan. 6, 2021 Trump rally that led to insurrection at the Capitol. Although she had left town by the time the Capitol was stormed, she expressed support for the marchers’ mission of trying to stop the election from being certified.
Chase said she will hire a lawyer to handle the challenge. If that challenge finds no fault in the primary process, then she will concede the election.
In the meantime, Sturtevant is claiming victory in the primary. Wednesday, he sent out an open letter thanking everyone for their support.
“Now it’s time to take on the Democrats, win back a Republican majority in the Virginia Senate this fall, and work with Governor [Glenn] Youngkin to implement his agenda,” Sturtevant wrote.
Barring any changes from Chase’s challenge, Sturtevant will face Democrat Natan McKenzie on Nov. 7.
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Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: State senator wants review of early voting in GOP primary
