A panel of three judges has been selected to hear a lawsuit from a candidate in last month’s Lynchburg City Council Ward IV Republican primary who seeks to have the election results thrown out.
Lynchburg Circuit Judge J. Frederick Watson said during a preliminary hearing Monday that he will hear the case along with Norfolk Circuit Judge Everett Martin and Judge H. Lee Harrell of the 27th Circuit, which covers nine Southwest Virginia circuit courts including those in Giles, Grayson, Montgomery and Wythe counties. Future hearings have yet to be scheduled.
Ward IV council member Chris Faraldi, who is the city’s vice mayor, won the June 18 Republican primary against Peter Alexander with 1,042 votes to Alexander’s 1,009, a margin of 33 votes, or 1.6%, which is outside the 1% that the state allows for a recount.
Alexander sued Faraldi in Lynchburg Circuit Court, seeking to have the primary declared invalid; Alexander argued that the results do not take into account 125 absentee ballots.
Faraldi’s attorney, Zach Werrell, said in court Monday that there is “no basis” for Alexander’s claim and that the 125 ballots are included in the election results. Faraldi filed a response to Alexander’s lawsuit asking the court to dismiss the case.
Lynchburg’s registrar and electoral board said last week that all legal votes were counted.
Lynchburg is divided among four wards, and each ward’s city council seat is up for election in November. In Ward IV, Democrat April Watson is also vying for the council seat. The city council also has three members who serve at large and were last elected in 2022.
