Today a story was published in the Prince William Registrar regarding Look Ahead America’s (LAA) project, Virginia Voter Assistance (VVA), that includes false and misleading statements from Prince William County Registrar Eric Olsen as well as from the reporter who wrote the story, Cher Muzyk.
Virginia Voter Assistance’s efforts in Virginia are entirely truthful and within the law, and Registrar Olsen would make better use of his time helping voters cast their ballots rather than attempting to suppress our voter turnout effort with obviously false claims. Our attorneys are also preparing letters for the Registrar demanding a retraction and correction of these false claims.
False Claim #1: VVA Flyers contain “intentionally false disinformation” about the consequences of not voting.
Every word on our flyer is true. Failure to vote may result in a loss of any number of rights and benefits. If anything, our flyer undersells the danger of not voting because while we say that these benefits “may” be lost, the loss of several of them is nearly inevitable without urgent engagement from voters at the ballot box.
For example, both Medicare and Social Security will be insolvent within a few years according to the Federal government. In California and Washington State, child custody will be taken away if a parent does not affirm a child’s “gender.” Recent child tax credits have also been withdrawn post-COVID. The civil forfeiture laws in Virginia allow the state to seize personal property for alleged crimes they could never get a criminal conviction for due to much lower standards of proof.
These and all other rights and benefits are at tremendous risk of loss and the best remedy to possibly prevent that is to vote.
False Claim #2: LAA or VVA is “Far right” or Supports Candidates for Public Office.
LAA is an IRS-recognized 501c3 nonprofit in good standing and we do not support any candidate or any right or left ideology. We are committed community organizers serving an underrepresented class, disaffected patriotic Americans of rural and blue collar backgrounds.
We have never supported any candidate for public office or any political party.
False Claim #3: VVA claims rights or benefits are based on voting history.
Nowhere on our flyer was that claim ever made. The flyer asserts that failure to vote may result in a loss of treasured rights, freedoms, and benefits, and there is an abundance of evidence of this in our history and in the present day.
False Claim #4: VVA improperly submitted absentee ballot request forms.
According to the Virginia Department of Elections, scanned copies of absentee ballot requests may be submitted via email. To quote, “Return the completed and signed form to your local registrar’s office by mail, fax, or scanned attachment to an email.” (See https://www.elections.virginia.gov/casting-a-ballot/early-absentee/.)
In all cases where we submitted such forms, it was at the request of a voter who asked for assistance, such as the elderly or disabled. We have also offered to provide hard copies to the registrar.
False Claim #5: VVA has not completed state required training.
All VVA team members in the field have completed the state-required training and signed the affidavit for third-party voter registration efforts.
However, this is required only for individuals or organizations requesting more than 25 voter registration forms from the state or a county with the intent to conduct a voter registration drive. (See https://www.elections.virginia.gov/registration/registration-drives/.)
VVA has never requested any voter registration forms from the state or any county, has never carried voter registration forms, and has never registered any voters, has never offered to register any voters, and will not engage in any voter registration efforts through the 2023 General Election in Virginia.
Read the press release here.
