An interview that asked whether a job candidate, a general registrar, was still “seeking counseling for PTSD.” Unsubstantiated and unhinged allegations of wrongdoing against a county’s top voter registration official and  staff. Dozens of threatening phone calls to the voter registrar’s staff in another locality. All of that’s happening in Virginia.

If I’d expanded the incidents targeting elections officials to the whole country, the list would’ve been even worse.

The verbal attacks and threats directed at nonpartisan elections administrators must cease if we want to maintain a legitimate democracy. Voting officials ensure the franchise runs smoothly, accurately and fairly.

They don’t deserve the vitriol and threats of violence hurled their way that have increased since Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” after the 2020 election. Many GOP politicians, despite the overwhelming evidence debunking the former president, have followed his lead – and so have some of their constituents.

“It’s just absolute hatred, false accusations and absolute disrespect,” Dianna Moorman, general registrar in James City County, told me last week. As I reported previously, her office has received at least 29 intimidating phone calls since the start of the year, and her home address was doxxed.

“I understand people are fed up with the way the country is going,” Moorman continued. “But the extreme disrespect and disdain are being directed at the wrong people.” 

Moorman said her board unanimously reappointed her. But my colleague Graham Moomaw’s story last week noted several registrars around Virginia, facing the end of their four-year term June 30, are on the chopping block. That’s unusual, and political overtones often have accompanied the removals.

“It’s the norm to be reappointed,” said Brenda Cabrera, president of the Voter Registrars Association of Virginia and the general registrar in the city of Fairfax. New terms are especially common when registrars have done their jobs effectively.

“General registrars know themselves to be the nonpartisan administrators in the room,” she added. “This feels like a politicization of something that normally hasn’t been politicized.”

Some three-member electoral boards, who select the general registrars, seem determined to oust longtime administrators they can’t keep under their thumbs. (The boards have two members from the current governor’s party and one from the minority party, so there’s been turnover since Republican Glenn Youngkin took office last year.)

Creeping politicization is occurring even though, as Attorney General Jason Miyares noted in a May 15 advisory opinion, board members cannot refuse to reappoint a registrar solely for political reasons. They’re not required to keep someone in the role, but as Miyares said: “[A] general registrar who can prove that an electoral board reappointment decision was due to political reasons can obtain reinstatement and money damages.”

Don’t be surprised if ousted voting officials seek redress in court – and win.

General registrars have resigned under pressure, been removed or could be replaced in Buckingham, Nottoway and Pittsylvania counties and Lynchburg city. Another registrar declined to talk to me in depth, fearing her decade-old-plus job wouldn’t be renewed. 

Lynchburg’s board earlier this month voted to replace general registrar Christine Gibbons with a technology manager. Cardinal News reported Gibbons had received good annual reviews since beginning her term in 2018.

In October 2020, Cardinal News reported, a sign was placed on her lawn reading: “Christine Gibbons Belongs In Jail. Lock Her Up.” No charges were filed, but Gibbons said she believed it was retaliation for her handling of absentee ballots. A board member had asked Gibbons during an interview May 12 if she was seeking counseling related to the incident, a move that violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Kelly Keesee has been the general registrar and director of elections for eight years in Pittsylvania County. She told me the board didn’t reappoint her.

“Going through a turbulent end of term makes you do a deep reflection on where you stand on election administration,” Keesee said. Officials often face adversity as election administrators, “but I don’t know that I’ve experienced it to this magnitude,” she added.

Localities handle elections, but state bigwigs could use the bully pulpit to squelch these outlandish attacks against nonpartisan voting officials.

When I sought out comment from Miyares about the attacks and how his so-called “election integrity unit” may be contributing to them, spokeswoman Victoria LaCivita replied:

“The Election Integrity Unit serves as a resource to the local registrars should they need assistance or legal advice. Attorney General Miyares condemns any and all forms of political violence and intimidation, and is grateful for the individuals that work towards preserving the American Miracle.”

That sentiment is obviously welcome.

The fact that the unit was created, however, was a sop to election deniers, as I wrote previously. Earlier state audits verified President Joe Biden’s comfortable win in the commonwealth in 2020 and the results of the 2021 election, in which Miyares and other Republicans won. 

Coupled with Virginia’s politically motivated decision last month to leave a multistate voter-data program, the attacks on local registrars are new warning shots. These moves chip away at the wall of democracy.

That wall will hold only if Virginians and elected officials fight to keep it standing.