Democratic Chair Maria Childress and Candidate Peter Volosin under investigation for March 12th petition filing

The campaign of Democratic candidate Sergio Coppola contacted the office of the Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney following an incident involving Maria Childress, head chair of the 6th District Democratic Party, and candidate Peter Volosin during the petition filing process for Virginia’s 6th District Democratic Party candidates on March 12th. Among the concerns brought forth are questions as to whether Virginia State election laws have been violated. The Coppola campaign wishes to resolve this matter before the Democratic primary to ensure that it does not become a subject of debate between the parties in the general election.

Submission rules for 2018 require that petitions cannot be submitted to the head chair prior to 12:00 p.m. on March 12th. The order in which the petitions are received determines the order that the candidates appear on the ballot. If multiple candidates submit simultaneously, placement is determined by a drawing.

All candidates were given the option to submit petitions by mail or to submit in person after 12:00 p.m. at the 3rd Floor of the Lynchburg Democratic Committee Office. Only Coppola and a representative from the Jennifer Lewis campaign were present to file at the designated location at 12:00 on March 12th. Maria Childress arrived late. When asked if she had seen Volosin earlier that day, she stated she had not, and processed both the Coppola and Lewis campaigns’ petitions with a 12:13 p.m. time stamp on the submission receipts.

Later that day, Childress announced that three candidates had filed “simultaneously,” and all three would enter the drawing for ballot placement. Upon questioning, Childress said that she met Volosin outside the party office building and processed his petitions inside her car, giving him a 12:00 p.m. time stamp on his submission receipt.

Questions were raised that for the petitions to have been processed by 12:00 p.m. they would have to be accepted prior to that time, which would void the petitions. The chair’s decision not to require the Volosin campaign to submit its petitions in the same manner as other campaigns were required to is also a potential violation of election rules. Several days later, with approximately 20% of his signatures validated, Volosin’s petitions were returned to him in a “handoff” by the head chair and immediately re-submitted, placing Volosin third on the ballot.

After these events, the Coppola campaign reached out to the Department of Elections, inquiring as to the correct protocol in this scenario. The department emailed the campaign information regarding election laws, including Sections 24.2-1001 on “willful neglect or corrupt conduct” and 24.2-527, which describes the responsibilities of the head chair. The Coppola campaign was then directed to the Commonwealth’s Attorney of Lynchburg as the proper authority to address any concerns.

The 6th District Democratic Primary is scheduled to be held Tuesday, June 12th.