Registrar has support to keep his position
By Greg Pearson STAFF WRITER

Haake

Despite heavy criticism from the State Board of Elections, the Democratic Party, the African-American community and the daily media, the Chesterfield Board of Elections (CBE) is standing behind Registrar Larry Haake. The board and Haake have accepted the responsibility for errors, missteps and shortcomings made in the Feb. 12 primary in Chesterfield when some precincts ran out of ballots.

Two of the three CBE members have endorsed Haake, and the third member, Democrat Ree Hart, said she hasn't formed an opinion yet. The Chesterfield Circuit Court appointed her to replace former CBE Chairman Jack Clifford, a Democrat, effective Mar. 1. The court appoints CBE board members after receiving nominations from both parties. Before and after the primary, the CBE has two Democrats and one Republican because the board majority must be the party of the current governor, Democrat Tim Kaine. For Haake to be terminated, two of the three CBE members would have to favor firing him for cause.

"His performance has been impeccable," said Earnest Harris, an African-American and a Democrat who serves as secretary of the CBE. "He is excellent and highly respected across the state. People outside of the state even call him for his assistance and opinion."

"The criticism of Larry is very unfair," continued Harris. "The issue of the police at Chesterfield precincts in 2004 even occurs elsewhere today. He's still being victimized for it. I don't see any grounds for asking for his resignation."

At last week's public hearing before the State Board of Elections, speakers from the Democratic Party and the National Association for the Advancement Colored People (NAACP) cited the decision to have police present in 2004 as an attempt to intimidate African-Americans from voting. One county source said Haake was following the recommendation of the county police department.

"Larry was the president of the Registrar's Association of Virginia last year, which proves he is recognized by his peers" said Horace Mann, the Republican who is serving as president of the CBE effective this month. "His performance has been outstanding while I've been on the board. Because of Larry, our system is almost completely computerized, which is why we report our results probably faster than any other system in the state. He even consults at the national level. During my 11 years on the board, he's always been impartial."

Haake said he is being attacked because he successfully represented an African-American manager in a racial discrimination suit against the State Board of Elections last year. The victim, who is a 20-year employee, accused an agency employee of retaliating against her by moving her to a smaller office, increasing her workload as a manager while reducing her staff, changing her reporting status and creating a hostile work environment. Unable to afford an attorney for the grievance hearing, Haake represented her and beat the state's attorney.

On appeal, Haake pointed out the agency failed to take all the corrective actions as ordered. Those charges included accusing Nancy Rodrigues, who runs the state agency and serves as one of the three members of the State Board of Elections, because she was responsible for making sure all the changes were made. Haake won the appeal, but says some of the grievances still remain.

Later, Haake intervened in a technology dispute between two registrars outside of the area, which resulted last month in another dispute with Rodrigues. Two Republican sources say the Democrats want to remove Haake even if it means selecting new members for the CBE.

Despite two phone calls to the State Board of Elections and one call to Rodrigues, we were unable to get any comment before press deadlines.

Haake is not affiliated with the Republican Party, but his wife is an active member of the Chesterfield Republican Committee and works as a legislative aide for Del. Sam Nixon, the Republican representing the 27th District.

Board of supervisors

At this week's Chesterfield Board of Supervisor's meeting, Dale Supervisor Jim Holland, the lone Democratic supervisor, is expected to address the board about his dissatisfaction with Haake and the CBE. "I will make a statement, but it may not be a resolution because I hate to put my other board members on the spot because it wouldn't be fair to them," he said. "I lack confidence in the registrar and the entire [county] electoral board." Earlier, he was considering asking fellow supervisors to support a resolution requesting the resignation of Haake and the CBE. Though the county funds the registrar's office, it has no direct control over its operations or the CBE.

Holland and Matoaca Supervisor Marleen Durfee attended last week's hearing in downtown Richmond. Midlothian Supervisor Dan Gecker did not attend, but said he is considering a resolution asking that the 299 ballots written on scraps of paper be counted as votes. The State Board of Elections disallowed those ballots because they weren't on official ballots.

Public hearing

Last week's hearing before the State Board of Elections was a bruising indictment of mistakes made in the Feb. 12 primary. Collectively, the speakers termed the county's performance incompetent, unresponsive, negligent and racist. Attorneys representing the Democratic Party and the NAACP were particularly accusatory. Haake and the CBE hunkered down during the meeting, choosing not to respond to the charges.

"It was a train wreck we called a primary," charged Jay Myerson, an attorney from Reston, representing the national Democratic Party. Long lines at the polls were "not an isolated incident at certain precincts, but a systemic failure."

He said poll workers were inadequately trained and provided little assistance to voters who were elderly or handicapped. He called for a petition to remove those officials in charge. "The improvised ballots didn't meet legal standards…and should have been photocopied" since most precincts are in schools and libraries that have copy machines.

In November 2000, Myerson represented presidential candidate Al Gore in the Florida hanging chad controversy. "We have attorneys in the field to ensure that never happens again here," Myerson said, "taking affidavits…as the party continues the investigation."

"The registrar did not know about the long lines in his county," added David Turetsky, a Washington, D.C. attorney representing the Virginia Democratic Party. During voting delays in the morning rush hour, he quoted Haake as saying, "There will not be another rush" in the afternoon after work. "The county registrar was in denial," added Turetsky.

He criticized Haake and the CBE for "being understaffed" at the polls, particularly at precincts that were "disproportionately comprised of black voters." Turetsky also blamed them for parking problems at schools because classes were held the day of the primary. However, the date for the primary was set by the General Assembly.

As president of the CBE last month, Clifford apologized to the county board of supervisors for the "screw up," saying the number of Democratic ballots needed was underestimated. The registrar's office printed 42,000 ballots, but nine of the 63 precincts ran out of ballots. There were 38,852 Democratic voters this year compared to 12,138 four years ago. Some persons left without voting because of the long lines.

"I hope officials have it together in November," said Carmel Jones, who waited two hours to vote at Hening Elementary School.

At the North Chester precinct, J. L. McCoy, vice president of the local NAACP, said there were "no problems," but he saw the voting delays "as an institutional and not individual failure."

However, the executive director of the Virginia NAACP saw a more sinister motive. King Salin Khalfani said disenfranchising voters - many of them African-Amercians - was the latest transgression of the "high income white county." In addition to police cars being at precincts in 2004, he alleged other racist acts including allowing very limited bus service inside the county and previously celebrating Confederate History Month.

Long lines were also reported at heavily white precincts, according to young voters at Bailey Bridge Middle School and the Clover Hill Library.

State Senators John Watkins and Steve Martin said they were pleased by the large voter turnout. "Let's learn from it" by extending voting hours, recommended Watkins.

"We're looking for a positive resolution," added Martin.

The state review will continue until next month followed by comments to be filed by the State Board of Elections.