An Open Letter To King William Regarding the Recent School Board Election.
If something doesn't feel right, it probably isn't.
“Truth will ultimately prevail where there are pains to bring it to light.” – George Washington
Events have unfolded over the course of the last several weeks that have called into question the integrity of King William’s recent election. Whatever the outcome, the thought of forever losing confidence in our system is much worse than any pain that might be endured for bringing this issue to light.
Recently, doubts were raised regarding the legitimacy of the School Board election and I truly believe residents of King William deserve to know the details despite any doubts and criticism that may come my way.
It was brought to my attention that Patricia Atkins, the newly elected 5th District School Board Member, may not have been legally certified to appear on the ballot because of errors made by the notary, Registrar Alison Fox, and the King William Electoral Board.
Moreover, there appears to be a cover-up.
In a disturbing recent development, Atkins seems to have weaponized law enforcement against Brian Garthright, a King William citizen and parent who was responsible for researching and uncovering possible errors on her candidate forms. Shortly after Garthright took to social media to share his concerns, she unleashed a shocking series of actions against him.
On November 11th, just days after the election, Patricia Atkins filed charges against Mr. Garthright. She placed a restraining order against him, added an additional charge of “assault,” and had him arrested and put in jail for which he had to pay $2,000 bond to be released - all this in response to what appeared to be nothing more than his exercise of a First Amendment right to question an elected official.
King William should be extremely troubled by these actions. If Mr. Garthright is found innocent which he likely will be, the implications are serious. Not only is it illegal for an elected official to silence or intimidate a citizen for expressing their viewpoint, Atkin’s behavior should be especially worrying to those with children in KWCPS.
If Mrs. Atkins finds it acceptable to administer this kind of hostile retribution toward an individual she disapproves of, any parent who questions her at a school board meeting is in danger of the same treatment.
The story begins at the end of September, 2023 when I received a random message from Brian Garthright informing me that he’d received copies of Patricia Atkin’s candidate paperwork through a FOIA request. He shared with me that he’d found possible discrepancies, one being that there was a missing notary seal on several of her signature petition pages.
WHAT VIRGINIA LAW SAYS…
The process of becoming a candidate includes many specific laws and rules directing how they are authenticated. Candidates for local school board must receive 125 notarized signatures from verified voters in their district to appear on the ballot.
Virginia Law requires that the notary seal have certain elements present to be legally valid.
§ 47.1-16, “the notary shall affix a sharp, legible, permanent, and photographically reproducible image of the official seal...”
And specific to political candidates, the law states requirements pursuant to §§ 24.2-506, 24.2-521, and 24.2-543 of the Code of Virginia.
1VAC20-50-20. Material omissions from candidate petitions and petition signature qualifications.
Any petition or a petition signature would be invalid if it contained certain “material deficiencies,” one of those being “The notary has not affixed a photographically reproducible seal.”
I examined the scanned signature sheets Mr. Garthright received, and it did appear that at least SIX pages lacked the required notary seal:
All of the other seals on her signature petition pages had seals that looked like
THIS:
Or THIS:
But the lack of a notary seal on those pages would mean that Patricia Atkins would not have obtained the required number of signatures to legally appear on the ballot. She would only have approximately 92 of the required 125.
Moreover, the notary also seems to have violated other rules such as notarizing her own signature, so there was certainly reason to believe that mistakes were made.
The more I learned, the more I wanted to know. I submitted my own FOIA request to Alison Fox at the Registrar’s office for Patricia’s candidacy documentation (and my own for comparison) on October 2, 2023.
Three days later, Ms. Fox replied:
Fox apparently “fixed” the issue and attached freshly rescanned documents for me WITH notary seals.
Here is what the new scan in color looked like:
In the new scans, the notary seals were slightly visible, but quite illegible. They were also embossed, which was very different than the other seals, and strangely there were two of them.
This didn’t put my mind at ease. In fact, it only made the situation more suspicious. I also couldn’t help but wonder if the seals had been added after the fact.
SEEKING HELP
I decided to contact the King William Electoral Board. I was hoping their expertise could clear up the matter. But what happened next was disturbing.
Instead of offering help, the contact for the Electoral Board acted strangely, immediately responding with anger and defiance. The contact accused me of trying “win dirty” and ended our short conversation with, “Never call me again!”
Her response was shocking and out of character. I felt it could only be explained by self-preservation and guilt. People who have something to hide act desperately. It’s also important to note that the Electoral Board Chair still has not reached out to me to clarify, and until this happens, I will take the silence as complicity.
The Electoral Board’s refusal to act only strengthened my resolve to find the truth, so I contacted an attorney. He reviewed Atkin’s signature sheets and concluded that the ones without seals would not be valid - BUT proving the Registrar’s office had them added after the fact would be very difficult if there were no witnesses.
While his input was helpful, I still needed more information. I decided to go directly to the Registrar, Alison Fox, and request to view the original documents as well as a replication of the digital scan. I thought it would be beneficial to watch her demonstrate exactly how the digital process didn’t pick up the seal.
She took me through the steps and sure enough, the scan did not pick up the seal. But I noticed right away that the in-person seal was even less legible in than the version she “fixed.” It was easy to see why it wasn’t digitally reproducible. I took a picture for reference and here’s what it looks like.
Something seemed wrong with the seals. Even if they were there all along, notary law is very clear:
“Near the notary's official signature on the notarial certificate of a paper document, the notary shall affix a sharp, legible, permanent, and photographically reproducible image of the official seal..”
The seals didn’t seem to meet any of those criteria except maybe - “permanent.”
CONCLUSION
The bottom line is that a formal examination of the documents should take place for the sake of transparency. Small violations such as an incorrect notary seal may not seem like a big deal, but every minor Virginia election law and/or regulation was put in place for a reason. Even the most trivial mistake can be enough to disqualify a candidate.
Moreover, if King William allows some requirements to be followed but not all, it sets a dangerous precedent. Ignoring the potential fact that our county Registrar, Board of Elections and notaries are overlooking small but important details essentially grants them permission to compromise our entire electoral system. We should care enough about the future of our county to hold those we put in charge to the highest standards.
No matter the ultimate verdict, this issue deserves to be pursued until there is a legal resolution.
Additionally, Patricia Atkin’s apparent intimidation and harassment of a citizen should also be closely examined and taken very seriously. If her claims are found to be unsubstantiated, King William should think very carefully about what kind of behavior they will tolerate in an elected leader.
Atkins started her candidacy for school board at the last minute. She was certainly feeling the pressure of the June 20th deadline. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that the seal was omitted or improperly done, deliberately or not, because of the time constraint. And given her completely irrational and hostile response as well as that of the Electoral Board, the investigation seems to have struck a nerve - meaning there’s likely truth hidden there somewhere.
We should ALL care about the the integrity of our government leaders and elections because our freedoms depend on it. We should not look the other way, even for the smallest infraction. Remember that the tiniest bolts hold an aircraft together - a single match can burn an entire forest…
As always, I believe King William is worth fighting for, and should always be made aware of transparency issues happening in our county. That’s why I’m sharing with you today, so that you can draw your own conclusions.
I’m also trusting my gut - it’s usually right.
Jessica McLane
“A republic, if you can keep it!” ~ Ben Franklin