Virginia is home to two useless “election integrity” organizations, both of which are Republican fronts and both of which operate out of mail drops.
From 2019 until it disappeared in 2021, Virginians for America First (VFAF) used a mailing address of 7330 Staples Mill Rd., Richmond — a UPS store that has mailboxes. VFAF claimed to be working to “protect elections in Virginia.” VFAF tried — failed — to recruit and army of “poll watchers,” sent volunteers out to question local registrars about their procedures, and generally did nothing. VFAF folded after the 2020 election.
VFAF’s “executive director” was one “Bishop” Leon Benjamin whose main gig is — along with his wife — the pastor of a Richmond holy-roller church. He ran for office three times, was trounced all three times. His main assistant was a guy named Joshua Daniel Pratt . . . until Benjamin discovered Pratt was useless and fired him. Pratt got religion and is now on the staff of an independent fundamentalist congregation in Lynchburg.
Oh, but never fear . . . the “election integrity” crowd will not be deterred. In 2022 up popped the Electoral Process Education Corporation (EPEC), located at 9480 Main St, Suite 1128, Fairfax VA — which is a Staples office supply store. A call to the store discovered that no one at the address has ever heard of EPEC. Headed by a a group of directors, none of whom has been able to hold a job for more than a couple of years, EPEC has a website filled with pretty, colorful charts and graphs which show nothing more than voter turnout, ballots cast, and the like — data that is available from the Virginia Dept of Elections.
My favorite part of EPEC is their “director” whose full-time gig is running a private recording studio in his home where he records “music” by local garage bands which he sells on Spotify . . . the business is called “Willful Wreckords” or some such horseshit.
Most recently EPEC is begging for money so they can afford the cost associated with a bunch of FOIA requests they submitted to General Registrars all over Virginia, seeking data that is publicly available by visiting the Registrar’s offices.
I give EPEC another few months and they will fade into well-deserved oblivion. But, never fear, another group of clowns will emerge, preaching “election integrity.”