Washington Post Article About Vienna Election Irregularities
As you read the article below from today's Washington Post ask yourself when the Vienna election policy of Maud selecting her own poll workers was changed? The election was last Tuesday.and County officials say the policy has now been changed. When did that happen?
Vienna Voters Complain of Irregularities at PollsBy Bill Turque
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 6, 2007; C05There are elections every year in Vienna, and they usually unfold with "Groundhog Day" predictability.
About a quarter of the central Fairfax County town's 10,000 registered voters come to the polls and return the incumbents to office. And that's what happened Tuesday as three members of the six-person town council -- Maud F. Robinson, George E. Lovelace and Daniel M. Delinger -- easily defeated two challengers, Susan Yancey Stich and Deborah T. Brehony.
The aftermath of the balloting, however, has been anything but routine. It has been marked by a series of complaints about the conduct of the town's longtime election officers. There have also been questions about their unusual selection process, which includes vetting by the town clerk and incumbent council members.
One election officer assigned to a voting machine at the Vienna Community Center, the town's sole polling place, was removed by county election officials after a voter complained that she was attempting to interfere with her decisions.Stella D. Matalas wrote in a formal complaint to Fairfax officials that when she stepped up to the booth, an election officer identified by officials as Rhoda Stevens said she needed to vote for three candidates "or the new people will get in."
Matalas said that when she finished voting, she told Stevens that she shouldn't be trying to influence the election.
"She said she was only doing what she was told, and that was to tell people to vote for three," Matalas wrote.
Stevens, reached at home last week, said she had no comment.
It's not clear what was meant by "vote for three," although it theoretically could work in favor of the incumbents because there were three of them and two challengers.
Margaret K. Luca, secretary of the Fairfax County Electoral Board, which runs Vienna's elections, said Stevens was under no instructions to tell voters to make three selections. No minimum number is required.
"You can cast an empty ballot if you want," said Luca, who was at the community center Tuesday and ordered Stevens's removal. "Frankly, I'm not sure exactly what was said, but under any circumstances, it was not acceptable," she said. "There is no situation in which anybody would be in a position to say that" to a voter.
Tuesday's voting generated other complaints, many from supporters of Brehony and Stich.
Pat Anderson, a certified public accountant and lawyer, said that after touching Brehony's name, an election official standing behind her said, "You didn't select three," and reached over to punch the "back" key on her machine.
Anderson said she stood her ground and replied that she didn't want to vote for anyone she didn't know.
"I could certainly see that someone less hardheaded than I would have accommodated her and voted for three," she said.
Others also complained that officials hovered behind them, as if they were trying to see how they voted. "That is a private matter, and it is very disconcerting that all of the volunteers do not respect that fact," wrote Ron Corso, a Brehony supporter.
Voters weren't the only ones unhappy about Tuesday. Regina Jordan, the town's chief election official, said supporters of Brehony and Stich seemed to be trying to start a confrontation.
"I felt harassed," said Jordan, an election official for more than 20 years. "One of them made a veiled threat to me." She wouldn't elaborate.
Brehony and others said Tuesday's incidents raise troubling questions about the method for selecting election officials. The county electoral board submits a list of qualified volunteers to longtime town clerk Carol A. Orndorff, a council appointee. She culls the list and submits it to the town council for final approval.
Luca acknowledged that the method was unique and that the board directly assigns volunteers to the towns of Herndon and Clifton. Luca, who has served as board secretary since March 2002, said that she doesn't know how Vienna's exceptional arrangement started but that she let it continue because there were no complaints.
"Obviously, this is not a process we're going to use anymore," she said.
Mayor M. Jane Seeman said no favoritism was involved in picking election officials, although they did tend to be the same people every year."I've never known us to say that we want or don't want a specific person," she said.
The election has heightened tensions between the town's entrenched political establishment and newcomers, some of whom have fought the town over its management of the Windover Heights Historic District, where some of the houses date to the 1860s.
Robinson, 80, one of the council members reelected last week, was appointed to her seat in 2000 after the death of her husband, Charles Robinson, Vienna's mayor for 24 years. Lovelace, 70, served on the council from 1982 to 1996 and returned in 2003.
Brehony said she is not contending that these problems determined the outcome of the election. But they are poor practices that need to come to light, she said.
"This is not sour grapes. We would have lost regardless," she said. "But it needs to come to the public eye. Elections should be honest."
Comments
"I felt harassed," said Jordan, an election official for more than 20 years. "One of them made a veiled threat to me." She wouldn't elaborate.
This comment out of all the article struck me. What was harassing? Someone told you to leave them alone while they were trying to vote? Sounds like someone is lying or trying to save face.
Posted by: vienna mommy | May 6, 2007 10:32 AM
Just wondering why our State Senator Jeannemarie Devolites Davis, who is on the State Elections Committee, couldn't or wouldn't get this woman removed at 12:30 when the first incident of voter irregularity was "officially" reported.
Posted by: Just wondering... | May 6, 2007 10:50 AM
Let's all send letters to the editor of the Post.
Posted by: Maud Squad | May 6, 2007 11:16 AM
....obviously this is a process we are not going to use anymore they said. BECAUSE WE GOT CAUGHT!
Posted by: Very interesting | May 6, 2007 12:52 PM
"Banner Reader", "Cooler Head?" or Dechert attorney...depending on what you are going by today...guess the Post has got it all wrong?
Posted by: Black Helicopter Pilot | May 6, 2007 01:03 PM
Election officers in Vienna are paid for their services (Read PDF).
Posted by: Historic Vienna | May 6, 2007 01:20 PM
Timeline:
1:30 PM A voter approached several people to inquire why she was being told that by a election official that she had to vote for three people or else one of the new people will win.
Within minutes, Jeannemarie Devolites-Davis went into the polling place to investigate, and when she returned at around 2pm, we were told that they had removed Rhoda Stevens from having any direct influence over any voters.
At 6:25pm, we learned that she had not been removed, and that she had continued to tell voters who not to vote for, and had been interfering with voters, as she had been in the morning.
Questions were directed to Vienna Mayor Jane Seeman: She was asked specifically whether she knew that this person was not removed. She stated it wasn't her obligation as mayor to see that she was removed, nor was it her responsibility to insure that the voting process in Vienna was being held in a way as to be clear and free from corruption, vote fixing, or organized voting fraud. She did offer, that she knew this lady and her husband were known to have done this the prior election, but since no-one brought it to the attention of the Town Council, she as mayor was under no obligation, legally or morally do do anything about it, nor follow up on the problems.
Now, we learn, how inane Mayor Jane Seeman's words and motives are. It is, in fact, she and the Town Council that picks these people and they have for years. Nowhere else in Fairfax County does this happen.
It's like the fox guarding the hen house. If you can control who looks after the polls, you can control who gets voted. Simple as that.
Posted by: Fair Voting? | May 6, 2007 03:44 PM
wow, that PDF looks like it came from a manual typewriter. what century are these people living in?
Posted by: gutenberg | May 6, 2007 04:57 PM
Heads up, Vienna. Mayor Seeman is a complete {...]. Watch her. Listen to her. She can't help but make a fool of herself. Vienna deserves leadership... not a do nothing old lady that has no credentials for being at the head of our local government. Keep the camera on her! She will show how nasty she is.
Posted by: Town Green | May 6, 2007 06:37 PM
"Banner Reader", "Cooler Head?" or Dechert attorney...depending on what you are going by today...guess the Post has got it all wrong?
Uh, why would I know anything about it? I voted at 6:00am sharp. I DO think it's funny that you neo-cons are all crowing about a Washington Post article. I mean, c'mon, even YOU have to see the humor in that ... it's like Karl Rove citing Cindy Sheehan with approval.
Posted by: Banner Reader | May 6, 2007 07:10 PM
Neocons? Well this site does rip Seeman and her right wing extreme son.
Posted by: Logic | May 6, 2007 07:43 PM
^ uh, okay.
Posted by: Banner Reader | May 6, 2007 08:26 PM
neocon? moi? I'm a proud leftie and always have been.
Posted by: non-neocon | May 6, 2007 09:40 PM
There are right wingers on this site and there are left wingers. There is also a heavy libertarian bent on the site too. Wow, big surprise. Guess what? Most people on this site want to see Vienna improved and in many instances "fixed" - and that has very little to do with national party identity.
Posted by: Historic Vienna | May 6, 2007 09:54 PM
Fair Voting-In essence these poll workers are "employed" by the Town? The Town is then their employer? The Mayor is the "Captain of the Ship", and claims she can do/won't do anything?
Posted by: oh brother, I mean big brother | May 7, 2007 06:25 AM
This is the 1st time I've posted a comment, but the banter back and forth by everyone has got me into the fracas. The citizens of Vienna do not realize what the Town has been doing with your money and just how fast they spend it. While you are likely lucky to get an increase in your salary of 2 or 3 % a year, the good old Town leaders have been increasing your taxes more than 10 % a year. The few people who do vote in this Town go to the polls like cattle each year and re-elect incumbents and they don't even realize that their money is being spent at unbelievable rates and you have no input to the decisions that spend it. When was the last time the Town asked for your opinion when it decided to spend millions on a project? We are either fools, don't care, or have too much disposable income. In the end though, we are all irresponsible and foolish for not voting in greater numbers.
Posted by: Amazed | May 7, 2007 08:07 AM
>>The Mayor is the "Captain of the Ship", and claims she can do/won't do anything?
So let's not forget where the voters are on the Town Organization Chart.
Posted by: Town Green | May 7, 2007 09:55 AM
The organizational chart is just a laugh. The citizens are not first for even a second. It should read as follows:
The Town Manager
Town Council
Citizens
Rest of Chart
The Town Manager runs the puppet show, pulls the strings of Town Council, and the citizens are the brunt of the joke. This has been going on way too long.
Posted by: frustrated citizen for years | May 7, 2007 05:56 PM
"The citizens of Vienna do not realize what the Town has been doing with your money and just how fast they spend it."
That is so true. Try getting someone to understand that the Town Green is really costing them $1000 per household, if not more. (Too many people buy the line that it is being paid for by the restaurant tax, ignoring the fact that the same $5 million could have been used for property tax reduction.) I don't mind paying taxes, but spend the money on something useful. Hire more police, add sidewalks, widen sidewalks, put a pedestrian bridge over Maple Avenue or bury power lines. Just don't overspend on a pocket park and then pretend that it will draw business.
Posted by: Perambulator | May 7, 2007 07:44 PM
>The Town Manager runs the puppet show, pulls the strings of Town Council, and the citizens are the brunt of the joke. This has been going on way too long.
The plot thickens! That explains why [...] couldn't resist posting here... the puppeteer [...] snaps back. So, the garden club is actually a mindless front of senior citizen puppets who bow to the Town Manager. Makes sense... much like corporate executives who go running to the Chief Technologist. And guess which favorite [...] lives next door to the [...]? I'll give you a clue... his number adds up to [...]!
Posted by: Town Green | May 7, 2007 08:29 PM
I have been looking at that chart for years, and wondering if anyone believes it!?
Posted by: Susan Stich | May 7, 2007 08:59 PM
DID JANE EVER PAY BUKONT FOR THOSE SHELVES HE HAD INSTALLED FOR HER?
Posted by: HISTORIC LIES | May 8, 2007 10:39 AM
>>>The town manager runs the puppet show........
I don't think so. It is exactly the opposite. Remember the TM is employed at the grace of Town Council. Do you think he would be in town hall for all these years if he did not adhere to their wishes? Wake up.
Posted by: wyltn | May 8, 2007 12:30 PM
Well, wyltn
You truly do not have any idea what goes on with TC. Why didn't TC get rid of the awful Director of Public Works (Mr. King)? TC probably couldn't. The director was a good friend of the TM. There were more complaints about the Public Works director for years and years and nothing was done. The strings were being pulled by the TM and TC obeyed.
Posted by: frustrated citizen for years | May 8, 2007 07:09 PM
From what I observed of Public Works activities after Mr. King became director impressed me. No more three employees to a truck and twenty persons on a job interfereing with traffic.
Posted by: wyltn | May 9, 2007 09:19 AM
For wyltn
You truly do not have a clue what is going on in this town. You have no idea how many complaints citizens gave about that director. You must have your head in the sand.
Posted by: another frustrated person | May 9, 2007 11:22 AM
hard to say which is worse: the corruption or the incompetence
Posted by: anne smith | May 9, 2007 12:21 PM
I sent an e-mail to Miss Jane to complain about the election chicanery. She sent a terse reply to indicate that the COUNTY is responsible for the Town elections. Maybe she's right, but that sort of pass-the-buck attitude at the outset of her reply was not reassuring at all.
Posted by: Pontific8tor | May 11, 2007 03:17 PM
If it is true, as stated above, that Regina Jordan believed that Brehoney and Stitch supporters were trying to create a confrontation I believe she should go the way of Rhoda. Regina Jordan was the towns chief election official and should have had a more concerned attitude about any complaints being made. I believe that was part of her job.
Posted by: wyltn | May 12, 2007 08:56 AM
According to information in another post the election officers were paid $100 and Regina Jordan the Chief Election Official was paid $200.
Posted by: wyltn | May 13, 2007 12:25 PM