Loudoun County School Board member serves as election official, purportedly violating state law

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Democratic School Board member Anne Donohue (At-Large) has allegedly broken a state law when she served as an election official on Nov. 5 at Independence High School in Ashburn.

Donohue, of Leesburg, was elected to the Loudoun County School Board in November 2023. Virginia code § 24.2-119 restricts an elected official from serving as an election officer.

Controversy also surrounded Donohue a year ago as she was coming onto the school board. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel found her to be in breach of the Hatch Act. See related story here: https://blueridgeleader.com/school-board-member-resigns-from-job-over-hatch-act-violation/

Donohue is currently a lawyer with Graham Law Firm, PLLC since April 2024, according to her LinkedIn page. Prior to that she served for almost 10 years as an attorney in the Department of Justice. She was given the choice to resign over the Hatch Act violation or be fired by her superiors. She chose to resign.

“I can confirm that Ms. Donohue served as an election official at Independence High School on Nov. 5,” said Samantha Shepherd, public information officer for Loudoun County Office of Elections. “I believe she was paid $250 for the day and served from 5 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.”

Election officers rotate between greeting people, checking voters in, answering questions and monitoring the electronic scanner that captures voters’ ballots.

“We were not aware on election day that she was an elected official,” Shepherd said. “We’ve since removed her from the Office of Elections system and she will not be able to serve in the future while an elected official.”

Donohue may have tried to return the money she was paid for being an election officer, according to a source who asked to remain anonymous. Shepherd said she does not oversee the accounting end of the Office of Elections and because of the Thanksgiving holiday could not obtain that answer readily due to staff being out of the office. We will update as that information becomes available.

Update: on Dec. 5 Judy Brown, Director of Elections, said the check paid to Donohue has not been cashed, but she did not attempt to return the check to the Elections Office.

Donohue, Wesley Allen, the school district’s attorney, and Natalie Allen, the school district’s spokesperson, were all contacted twice for comment today but did not respond.

Liz Carter, chair of the Loudoun County Democratic Committee, was also contacted for comment but did not respond.

Scott Pio, Chair of the Loudoun County Republican Committee, said he was puzzled as to why a lawyer would not know the law with regard to serving as an election officer, especially considering the fact that she has actively campaigned during election seasons for several years.

When the School Board members came onto the Board, they were given instructions for what is prohibited conduct in accordance with state and local law, according to several school board members.

“Did she not know the law? Or did she know the law and willfully disregard it? Maybe the Democratic party will wake up and stop endorsing people who break the law,” Pio said.

Audrey Carpenter is the Northern Virginia Bureau Chief at AllVirginia.News and can be reached at: audreycarpenter@allvirginia.news