Richmond’s top election official resigns after critical IG report

The Richmond Electoral Board voted to accept the resignation of Registrar Keith Balmer Wednesday after two investigations found nepotism, overspending, procurement violations and numerous other issues in the city’s election office.

The board — which consists of two Republicans and one Democrat — made a unanimous decision to part ways with Balmer after a closed meeting at City Hall that lasted more than two hours.

Balmer, who has held the job since 2021, will continue running the election office until Dec. 31, the date his resignation takes effect.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Board Chair Starlet Stevens said the board gave Balmer the option of resigning but made clear he would have to go one way or another.

“If he didn’t want to resign, we were unanimous that we would have him removed,” Stevens said.

The board intends to hold additional meetings in the near future to discuss next steps for hiring a new registrar.

In a news conference Wednesday afternoon at his office, Balmer said he’s proud of how his office has run elections but takes accountability for “administrative sloppiness.” He said he disputed some of the allegations leveled against his office, but accepted others as accurately pointing out “mistakes” that happened on his watch.

“At the end of the day, the citizens of this city need to have a registrar in place who is also following the city guidelines,” he said. “And that is where my office has fallen short. And I take full responsibility for that.”

Balmer added that he would have liked to remain in the job, but wanted to avoid a potentially long and costly court fight that might have led to the same outcome. 

“I just don't need that sort of energy, especially not around the holidays,” he said.

Under a 2023 tweak to Virginia law, electoral boards can vote to initiate the removal of a registrar, but the final decision is up to a local court.

Balmer got the job running elections in Richmond after the ouster of former longtime registrar Kirk Showalter, who had the job for more than two decades but lost it after clashing with Democratic officials over her management of the office.

Last week, Inspector General James Osuna released a sharply critical report on how Balmer and a deputy are running the election office. Osuna’s investigation found numerous violations of city policy and wasteful uses of public dollars, substantiating 25 of 26 allegations examined as part of the probe into Balmer’s office. 

The report faulted the election office for improper uses of city-issued purchasing cards, overspending on decor for the election office, inappropriately buying a handgun so a temporary worker could act as an armed security guard and spending public money on alcohol. 

An earlier investigation by city human resources officials found nepotism violations after relatives of Balmer and Deputy Registrar Jerry Richardson were either hired to full-time jobs or paid for election-related work.

Richardson also resigned from her job prior to Wednesday’s meeting. Her resignation is effective Friday, according to Balmer. He attributed some of his conduct to relying on guidance from Richardson, noting that she already worked in the office before he got there and became her boss.

“We just need to hit the reset button here in this office,” he said.

At his news conference, Balmer indicated he would be publishing a “rebuttal” to the inspector general’s report. However, he said later in the day that he had decided not to release the document laying out his side of the story and felt he “said enough” at the news conference.

He said he felt many of the issues arose from inadequate training on city policies from City Hall, a problem he said exists partly because the election office isn’t a part of the regular government administration even though it relies on city funds.

He took particular exception to a portion of the inspector general report that said he committed “fraud” by not logging his vacation time in a city software system as employees are instructed to.

“And the inspector general says that you should know how to do that because you went through orientation and training? No I didn’t. There was no orientation or training,” Balmer said. “Don't just allow a new person to come in and figure stuff out on their own. Because ultimately, this is where we’re at, and this is why this happened.”

Balmer also disputed the suggestion that his office intentionally split up a nearly $230,000 remodeling of the office into 21 small purchase orders to evade city procurement rules for large expenditures. He said he felt the inspector general didn’t offer proof that was deliberate rather than a “lack of understanding about city procurement policies.”

Stevens and other board members said they felt the report was accurate.

“I’m confident in the inspector general’s office,” said Board member Kate Maxwell.

Board members said it was the report’s findings and Balmer’s responses that led them to take the step they took Wednesday.

Security restricts access to meeting room

The board encountered some logistical difficulties in holding Wednesday’s meeting at City Hall instead of the election office on Laburnum Avenue. After the board began its meeting in public a little after 9 a.m. and quickly went into a closed session, City Hall security guards told reporters and members of the public that meeting attendees could not wait outside the closed room and would have to return to the lobby on the first floor.

After reporters objected to the move — which made it impossible to see who might be going in and out of the closed-door meeting — that edict was reversed and attendees were allowed to return to the seventh floor where the meeting was being held. But officials later said everyone had to leave the conference room immediately after the vote on Balmer because another meeting was about to start.

One electoral board member, Joyce Smith, indicated she would not take questions from reporters because of the rush to clear the room.

“I don’t want to answer the media,” said Smith, the lone Democrat on the board. “We’ve taken care of what we needed to do.”

All three board members later stood together to take questions from the press in the City Hall lobby. Stevens and Maxwell, the two Republicans, did most of the talking as Smith stood by.

“I think that the citizens of Richmond deserve to have an elections office that’s run efficiently,” Stevens said.

Balmer said he’s enjoyed “the wonderful roller coaster” he’s been on for three and a half years and is leaving the job as “a much more stronger and confident person.”

“God has another plan for me. I believe that,” he said. “So this is, you know, not likely the last time you heard of Keith Balmer.”