After meeting last week and accomplishing nothing of substance in regards to the upcoming nominating convention, Virginia’s 7th District Republican Congressional committee held a much more efficient meeting today.
During the risk-assessment segment of the meeting, the party announced that it is having trouble finding any insurance companies that will even give them a quote to cover the event. They are consulting with law enforcement and lawyers in regards to options on most aspects of the convention moving forward, according to the chairman of the committee, Ben Slone.
The first motion that the committee voted for was a motion to change the date and time on the official Convention Call (the document stating the specifics of the convention) from April 25th to “To Be Determined.” That vote passed unanimously.
The second motion considered was legal action against the Virginia Board of Elections on behalf of the 7th District GOP committee. The motion passed unanimously, meaning the committee is moving forward with a lawsuit seeking relief from Governor Northam’s recent executive orders banning gatherings larger than 10 people.
The committee’s reasoning is that the orders will prevent them from nominating a candidate by June 9th. This will not change the filing deadline for delegates, and the price burden of the lawsuit will fall on the 7th District committee – although they stated in the meeting that Craig Williams’ law firm will represent the committee in the matter free of charge.
The committee will still work to try and find alternate locations in case the courts fail to rule in their favor, they say.
Ideas being considered for voting methods by the committee include drive up, drive thru, mail-in and different digital options, according to Slone. Ranked-choice voting will also be considered as an option to accompany each of those methods. These are the topics that took the committee completely off their rails at the previous meetings.
The meeting adjourned after the final vote on the lawsuit.
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