Fairfax Co. School Board Candidate Back On Ballot After Judge's Ruling

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — A Fairfax County Circuit Court judge ruled Wednesday that a Democratic-endorsed candidate for the Fairfax County School Board who was disqualified from the ballot last week could be reinstated to the ballot for the Nov. 7 general election.

On Oct. 25, Judge Richard Gardiner ruled that Marcia St. John-Cunning's ballot petition for the Franconia District School Board seat was invalid for not correctly placing her address on one page of her ballot petition.

Following a hearing about St. John-Cunning’s candidacy on Wednesday, though, Gardiner allowed two additional petition sheets to be counted toward the signature threshold needed for her to qualify for the ballot. Based on the judge's ruling, the Fairfax County Office of Elections on Wednesday re-qualified St. John-Cunning for the ballot.

The additional signatures on the two petition sheets were originally deemed unnecessary by the General Registrar’s office in March because she was already a qualified candidate, according to the Fairfax County Democratic Committee.

During Wednesday's hearing, St. John-Cunning said she had attempted to submit additional pages of signatures in March before the deadline to do so had expired and was told by the Fairfax County elections office that they were not necessary since she had already passed the signature threshold. St. John-Cunning said she would have submitted the additional signatures otherwise, WUSA9 reported.

READ ALSO: Franconia District Candidate Disqualified From School Board Election

Gardiner ruled that St. John-Cunning’s due process rights had been violated by the Fairfax County elections office, according to WUSA9. “The registrar should not have, in any way, discouraged the candidate from filing them,” the judge said.

“We are pleased by today’s order and elated to see her reinstated as a qualified candidate for School Board. Marcia St. John-Cunning is an exemplary candidate who has worked in our local schools and knows the families of Franconia,” FCDC Chair Bryan Graham said in a statement Wednesday night.

While common sense prevailed in the ruling, Graham said, “the damage is already done.”

"Voters have been and will continue to be very confused about how to properly vote in this election," he said. “We will continue to fight to ensure that the voter’s intent is respected and that no citizen is disenfranchised.”

St. John-Cunning is facing off against Republican endorsee Kevin Pinkney in the general election. Tamara Derenak Kaufax, the three-term Franconia District representative on the school board, announced earlier this year that she would not be seeking re-election.

In response to the judge's ruling on Wednesday, Fairfax GOP Vice Chair Nick Andersen said that in contrast to St. John-Cunning, Pinkney has "consistently demonstrated his seriousness and attention to detail in the conduct of his campaign."

"This recent series of events has shown that parents and taxpayers cannot afford four years of Marcia St. John-Cunning's incompetence on the board," Andersen said in a statement. "Voters should not allow themselves to become distracted by the Democrat-endorsed candidate's legal troubles — instead, they should get out and vote for Kevin at any of the early voting locations, to bring much-needed balance to our county school board."

The control of the Fairfax County School Board by Democrats — over the past four years, all 12 school board members have been Democrats — "needs to end, so we can refocus on high academic standards, learning loss, student safety and responsible budgeting," he said.

In the case before the circuit court, the Eighth Congressional District Republican Committee, along with two voters in Virginia's 8th congressional district, filed a complaint against Fairfax County General Registrar and Director of Elections Eric Spicer for not invalidating St. John-Cunning's ballot petition over the incorrect address on the one page.

In the order issued on Oct. 25, Gardiner ruled that Spicer "violated his non-discretionary ministerial duty" under Virginia law "to invalidate the 7th page of Fairfax School Board candidate Marcia St. John-Cunning's ballot petition."

"The pages denoted as '4' in the lower right corner does not have her address on the front page," the judge said. "Therefore, this petition page and the signatures on the front and back page are invalid as a matter of law."

After Wednesday's ruling to allow her back on the ballot, St. John-Cunning said the decision "is justice for the 3,000 residents who already exercised their constitutional right to vote." Any of these 3,000 residents who had voted for St. John Cunning would have had their votes for her thrown out if the judge's Oct. 25 ruling had been allowed to stand.

"The will of the people is democracy, and today democracy wins," St. John Cunning said in her statement. "This should be a wake-up call. The amount of money and resources the Republicans put into this school board race illustrates their strategy to reframe the Fairfax County School Board. Their tactics of disenfranchisement and confusion didn’t happen in Tennessee or Georgia. They happened in our backyard."

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