Virginia voter feels ‘disenfranchised’ after bomb threat closes Ashburn polling location
ASHBURN, Va. - A Virginia voter told FOX 5’s Shomari Stone that he feels "disenfranchised" after he said he and his family were turned away from a Super Tuesday polling place in Ashburn that was closed due to a bomb threat investigation.
The incident happened on Tuesday at the Independence High School polling location around 2 p.m.
The Loudon County Sheriff’s Office says deputies and school security evacuated the building and thoroughly searched the facility following the reported threat.
The school was reopened after law enforcement gave the all clear before 7 p.m.
Virginia voter feels ‘disenfranchised’ after bomb threat closes Ashburn polling location
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Stone said the Loudon County Board of Elections Director told him that, initially, people voted in the parking lot of the school. Then, officials said they opened a polling place at nearby Brambleton Middle School where more than 100 people cast their ballots until the polls closed.
But one voter alleges poll workers did not tell him, his wife, and some other voters, about the relocated polling place at the middle school.
In an exclusive interview, Stone spoke with Doug Rember, who said he was told by poll workers that the location was closed, and he would not be able to vote. "Then we asked them, what can we do? And they told us nothing, and then they left," he said.
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Virginia voter feels ‘disenfranchised’ after bomb threat closes Ashburn polling location
Rember said he and his family were not told about the alternate voting location or if an absentee ballot could be cast instead. "Disenfranchised, like, you know, our vote doesn't really matter," he told Stone when asked how the situation made him feel.
The Loudon County Board of Elections Director and Loudon County Sheriff’s Office say they are unaware of anyone who was told they could not vote.
Meanwhile, the Sheriff’s Office is not providing any specifics about the threat that remains under investigation.