Early voting is already underway in Virginia, but Democratic Attorney General nominee Jay Jones faces mounting pressure to withdraw after leaked text messages and a reckless driving conviction surfaced last week.
In an exclusive interview with WFIR’s Ian Price, Dr. Chapman Rackaway, chair of Political Science at Radford University, explained that if Jones does drop out, Virginia’s election system could face significant logistical challenges.
“You’ve already printed out all of your ballots for an election. You’ve sent out absentee ballots. People have submitted them in early voting. Then that’s kind of fixed. But everyone who votes afterwards, there’s probably got to be a supplemental printed out ballot that would remove Jones’s name and replace them with whomever. So it’s going to cause a lot of confusion,” Rackaway said.
Complex legal process for ballot replacement
Rackaway has been researching Virginia election code to understand the legal ramifications. He explained that Virginia law (sections 24.2-539 and 24.2-541) allows parties to replace a nominee within 60 days of the election, but the practical implementation becomes murky once early voting has begun.
“If a nominee withdraws within 60 days of the election, the party can nominate a replacement candidate as the party chairman shall promptly certify the name of any replacement nominee to the appropriate electoral boards,” Rackaway explained to WFIR. “But how that plays out in the local elections offices is a little unclear from what I’m reading.”
The confusion extends to how votes already cast would be handled and whether supplemental ballots would need to be printed for future voters.
Strategic considerations keeping Jones in race
This potential ballot confusion could be a key factor in Jones’s decision to remain in the race despite the controversy, Rackaway suggested.
“Maybe that’s part of why Jones isn’t apparently withdrawing, because they’re worried that that confusion could further hurt their chances and they’d rather roll the dice on keeping Jones in,” Rackaway said. “That’s part of why I want to see the next poll in this case, because, you know, if Jones drops ten, 15 points, that’s a hole that’s very, very hard to climb out of. And maybe that strategy of staying in backfires.”
Rackaway added that if polling shows Jones hasn’t lost significant ground, Democratic strategists might decide to “ride this thing out” and find ways to shift the news cycle back to campaign messaging.
Scandal impact more severe for top legal post
The controversy stems from text messages Jones sent to Republican House Delegate Todd Gilbert in 2022, which included violent language that some have characterized as threatening. These messages came the same year Jones was convicted of reckless driving after being caught driving 116 mph in a 70 mph zone.
Rackaway told WFIR that this type of scandal may be particularly damaging given the office Jones seeks.
“Any kind of scandal that speaks to the way that someone would approach their job is going to have more punch to it than some of the other scandals,” Rackaway said. “When you’re talking about enforcing the law and you’re talking about wishing violence on people… those things suggest that maybe this is someone who talks one way, but looks at the law differently.”
Questions about judgment
Rackaway also raised questions about Jones’s political judgment in sending such messages to a member of the opposing party.
“Jones was having this text conversation with a Republican elected official. Even if you’re joking about this stuff, you know that it could be made public,” Rackaway noted. “There’s almost a casualness that he seems to have taken with the tone… it seems a little sloppy.”
Past precedents offer little guidance
When asked about former Governor Ralph Northam’s decision to remain in office despite calls for his resignation over a blackface controversy, Rackaway suggested voters aren’t likely to draw comparisons.
“For Jones’s allies, yeah, they’ll look at that as a precedent. No, stay in. But as far as the voters go, that’s ancient history,” Rackaway explained.
The controversy has already impacted Jones’s campaign operations, with a fundraiser being canceled this week according to Axios. While several prominent Virginia Democrats have condemned the messages, few have explicitly called for Jones to withdraw from the race.
Jones has apologized for the messages but has not commented publicly on whether he’ll remain in the race.
The post What happens if AG candidate Jones drops out? Political expert warns of ballot chaos first appeared on News/Talk 960-AM & FM-107.3 WFIR.
