Update: Sen. Chase presents independent 'forensic audit' over 2020 elections

After making claims earlier that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and going to the Jan. 6 rally that led to the riot on the Capitol, Chase claims that the data, specific to Virginia, shows that voting results were edited, despite the fact that the election results were accepted by Congress and confirmed by most major media outlets.

“We are going to make this available to you like we promised, the public, to the press, everyone, and that work is going to be available to you,” Chase said in an online video before an interview with WRVA last week.

The Office of Sen. Chase did not respond immediately to questions as of Tuesday.

Sen. John Bell, D-13th, who represents Loudoun County, led the Senate last year in censuring Chase for failure to “uphold her oath of office, misuse of office, and conduct unbecoming of a Senator,” according to the Senate No. 91 resolution.

Bell told the Times-Mirror before her visit that he welcomes Chase to Loudoun County. However, he said he is perplexed because he said there hasn’t been any forensic audit.

“A glass of wine from a Virginia winery would be a better use of her time,” Bell said by phone on Thursday.

Chase told radio host John Reid last week that she has been working on the forensic audit for the past two years. She said during one of her trips to Arizona, where she learned about conducting a full forensic audit, she and her team learned how to perform an audit in Virginia.

Chase said the information was later provided to the Attorney General’s Office during the previous session.

Victoria LaCivita, a spokesperson from the Attorney General’s Office, said “our office is still reviewing the material,” but stopped short of providing any further details.

“How can you move forward when you don’t know what happened in the past,” she said in a Facebook video posted last week.

Chase was joined by two speakers discussing their data on poll book technology infrastructure, voter rolls and final vote tallies at Zion Springs Barn and Vineyard in Hamilton. She also spoke about her work in the legislature addressing elections in the commonwealth for 30 minutes.

Judy Brown and Richard Keech, general and deputy registrar in the Loudoun County Office of Elections, respectively, confirmed they were aware of the public forum, but did not attend.

Brown said the office has responded to a number of emails and questions for election data, and has been asked by the county’s electoral board to provide voter registration list maintenance updates every monthly meeting.

“We’re aware of some of their concerns. We’ve answered many of their questions the best way we can and we remain dedicated to ensuring that the public is educated on the voting process,” Keech said.

Keech disputed a claim that the poll books in Loudoun County were not certified because the testing vendor “ran for the hills,” as stated by one of the speakers.

“The testing vendor, SLI, signed off on the pollbooks as meeting all standards, that is publicly available information,” he said.

Additionally, he also disputed a claim that the county certifies equipment. Virginia is one of only 11 states to require that electronic pollbook systems meet certain standards and be certified, according to the registrars.

In February, Chase introduced SB605 to establish a forensic audit of an election in a county or city that can be requested by officials or upon the petition of a group of residents of the locality in question. That same month, the bill died in the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee.

“Contrary to what is spewed on far-right cable news, there has never been evidence of significant voter fraud in the commonwealth or the United States,” said Privileges and Elections Committee Chair Adam Ebbin, D-30th, in a Feb. 23 statement.

“Senator Chase refuses to accept that truth, and wastes our time and taxpayer dollars on unfounded, politically-motivated attempts to subvert the will of the electorate,” he said. “We must focus on what really matters to Virginians.”

Bell, who also sits on the committee, said Chase did not offer any evidence showing irregularities with the 2020 elections in Virginia. He said the audit would’ve cost $70 million for the election which now-President Joe Biden won by 10 points in Virginia.

Chase made claims during the Feb. 1 committee hearing that ballots in her district had been illegally cast, but did not provide any evidence. She also said she did not submit anything to the prosecutors in her district that encompasses a part of Chesterfield County, and all of Colonial Heights City and Amelia County.

Keech and Brown said they are not aware of any ballots being cast illegally in Loudoun County.

“It’s an uncommon occurrence,” Keech said. He said if it does happen, 99% of the reason is because a father and son may share the same name and address.

A spokesperson with the Senate Democratic Caucus confirmed via email that Chase did meet with Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) about a forensic audit.

However, on Feb. 1, she refused to provide such evidence unless the committee passed her bill to require forensic audits of all elections in the commonwealth, according to the Feb. 23 statement from the caucus.

Former Attorney General Mark Herring (D) requested the evidence, the release states, but Chase did not respond.

Bell said Chase also attempted to add first year funds to the 2022 — 2024 Biennium Budget to conduct a forensic audit of the 2020 election, but the Senate failed to pass on the $9 million request.

“I welcome any visitor to Loudoun County as long as they’re peaceful,” Bell said, “but her time would be much better spent visiting our wineries or the other historic sites here, than talking about unneeded audits, wasted taxpayer money and unsubstantiated claims.”.

Chase, who ran for the governor’s mansion last year, recently withdrew her run for Congress in January and has turned her attention to seeking re-election to the Senate.