Thomas A. "Tag" Greason was disqualified from running for the Broad Run District School Board seat by the State Board of Elections Tuesday, July 3.
Greason contacted Judy Brown, the county’s general registrar, when he realized he made a mistake on the Certificate of Candidate Qualification. The Broad Run resident did not witness all 125 voters sign his petition to be eligible to run for the School Board seat.
According to the State Board of Elections’ candidacy requirements for local offices, "the person circulating the petition must affirm before a notary or other person authorized to administer oaths, that he personally witnessed the affixing of the signatures."
"Apparently, he misunderstood the application," Brown said. "He contacted the board and indicated he thought he made a mistake."
When Brown recounted the votes Greason said he witnessed voters sign, he was short 23 votes.
"We had to invalidate the petition," Brown said.
AS A RESULT, School Board member Bob Ohneiser (Broad Run) will run unopposed in the November election.
"As a School Board member, we go through stacks of papers. It’s all complicated," he said. "You can’t sign something you didn’t read."
According to the State Board of Elections’ Certificate of Candidate Qualification, knowingly making an untrue statement or entry on the application is a felony under Virginia Law. A candidate who lies on his or her application is subject to punishment of a maximum of $2,500 and/or up to 10 years in prison, and he or she could loose the right to vote.
"That would only come into play if someone turns this case over to the Commonwealth’s Attorney," Brown said. "That wouldn’t be done by our office."
Only a county citizen or another candidate is eligible to bring the case to court, she added.
"We tried to rectify the situation," Brown said. "We took his name off the ballot. We aren’t expected to do anything else."
GREASON IS STILL eligible to run for the seat on a write-in campaign, Brown said.
"What he does now is entirely up to him," she said.
Greason did not return phone calls as of press time.