A former Virginia elections official from Prince William County is suing Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and three others in a malicious prosecution case filed Oct. 17 in federal court in Richmond.
Plaintiff Michele White says in the lawsuit that Miyares violated her rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments and Virginia state law when he charged her in 2022 with two felony counts and one misdemeanor charge consisting of making a false material statement or entry required by law, corrupt conduct as an elected official, and willful neglect of duties. The charges were related to vote counts in the 2020 election.
All charges were subsequently dropped.
The suit states: “As the Republican candidate for Attorney General in 2021, Defendant Jason Miyares campaigned on promises to investigate so-called threats to election integrity and fight “election fraud,” echoing more explicit calls from political extremists who baselessly call into question the integrity and validity of the 2020 election. Once in office, Defendant Miyares and his collaborator, Defendant Joshua Lief, worked closely with groups aligned with the “Stop the Steal” movement to launch an “Election Integrity Unit,” which was heralded by political extremists as a means to find validation for their false claim that election fraud had resulted in a “stolen” 2020 election.”
“To provide that validation and to justify the existence of this Election Integrity Unit, Defendants Miyares and Lief had to show prosecutions for election fraud. The Election Integrity Unit, however, did not have evidence of election fraud sufficient to sustain any prosecution. Nor was it staffed or trained by Defendants Miyares and Lief to understand the work of election administration and ensure election workers were protected from baseless accusations of fraud. In early 2022, Defendants Miyares and Lief tasked two Financial Investigators – Defendants Mark P. Almeida and Howard Mulholland – with finding election fraud in Prince William County, even though they knew that both were ill-prepared to understand electoral systems and highly unexperienced with Virginia election laws and practice. That lack of preparation was irrelevant, because the purpose of the investigation was not to uncover the truth but to set in motion a prosecution that would provide an opportunity for the public launch of their Election Integrity Unit.”
White, an election official in Virginia with nearly 20 years of service, was the General Registrar of Prince William County during the 2020 election. In late 2022, almost two years after the 2020 election, she was blindsided by criminal charges that carried penalties of up to 21 years in prison.
“The criminal charges against Ms. White rested entirely on Defendants Almeida and Mulholland’s knowingly false and misleading statements. Their investigation cut corners and ignored evidence in a manner inconsistent with an intent to arrive at the truth. Their factual conclusions rested on blatant falsehoods, misrepresented aspects of Virginia’s electoral system, and omitted key facts, even though they knew the information they omitted was material. That misconduct formed the basis of prosecutors’ decision to charge Ms. White and of a grand jury’s decision to indict her,” the suit further stated.
The case against White was the only criminal prosecution brought by the Election Integrity Unit, which Miyares formed in 2022.
Miyares responded to the lawsuit by saying, “It is wrong on the facts and the law. The Attorney General’s office looks forward to defeating this case in court.”
Eric Olson, the Registrar who replaced White, said he also experienced hostility from Republicans when he entered his job, and in an Oct. 2022 article in the Virginia Mercury, said he would be resigning. However, Olson did not quit and is still employed as the Registrar.
Audrey Carpenter is the Loudoun County Bureau Chief for All Virginia News. She can be reached at: audreycarpenter@allvirginia.news
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