Thomas: Be Ready for Extremism if VA Referendum Result Tossed Out

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones asked the Virginia Supreme Court to overturn a ruling by Judge Hurley in Tazewell that blocked the State Board of Elections from certifying the results of the April 21 redistricting referendum. That is notable—so is the justices’ denial of that motion.

First, most anyone that remembers 2020 knows that the first response from anyone, when confronted with proof that shenanigans had taken place during the presidential election, is “the vote has been certified and there is no changing it.” That gets used to justify statements that the 2020 election was unchallenged.

It appears that what the attorney general was trying to do was force the state Supreme Court’s hand by claiming that one district court didn’t have the standing to stop a whole state-wide certification. Jones also argued, with a straight face, that because the redistricting his party supported would eat into the time for candidates to know what district they were running for and if any primaries needed to take place. Any delay could be seen as “vote suppression.”

Had he been successful, any ruling regarding the legality of the referendum would meet the same response the questions about 2020 meet: “So sorry, already certified.” That makes the second part of this compelling.

The fact that the Virginia Supreme Court did not go along with the attorney general is being seen by tea-leaf readers as an indication that they will find that sufficient laws were broken that would render the whole vote moot. Then the fun begins.

If you have not read the letter that the alleged assailant sent his family before trying to crash the White House Correspondents’ Dinner more than a week ago Saturday, the New York Post was the first to do so, and you should read it to get an idea of what might be coming to the streets of Virginia if the vote is thrown out. A continuously repeating loop based on unproven or debunked rhetoric about President Donald Trump led the assailant to travel across the country to attend the dinner. And there are many more like him.

People that believe, in the words of the Trump assailant, “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” and who are convinced extreme action needed to take place even without redistricting, can become dangerous extremists.

Think of the Virginia riots in Richmond and Roanoke after George Floyd died in police custody. Should the redistricting referendum be ruled invalid, it would be their votes got tossed out. They won’t need a planted agitator to whip them up into an extreme frenzy.

While the Virginia Supreme Court should not give in to the threat of extreme political violence, we need to be ready.