Troxel and Gibbs claim victory in jury trial against Registrar General

After more than two hours of deliberations, the jury announced its verdict Friday evening, finding that “partisan political considerations” were not a “substantial or motivating factor” in the decision by Lynchburg Board of Elections Vice Chairman Steven Troxel and Board of Elections Secretary Betty Gibbs not to reappoint Gibbons as Registrar General.

In her lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Gibbons accused Gibbs and Troxel of removing her as Lynchburg's registrar for partisan political reasons and in violation of the First Amendment.

In a 2-1 vote in June 2023, Troxel and Gibbs voted to appoint Daniel Pense as the new registrar general when Gibbons' term ends on June 30, 2023. Board of Elections Chairman David Neumeyer, the only Democrat on the three-member Board of Elections, voted against hiring Pense as the new registrar general.

Gibbons stated in her lawsuit that Pense, who had previously worked in the financial services industry, made no secret of his membership in the Republican Party, while she, as a matter of policy, did not disclose her party affiliation or candidate preferences and avoided “partisan politics in all of her public appearances and professional interactions.”

Reacting to the verdict, Steve Pershing, Gibbons' attorney, said he was “of course” disappointed.

Pershing pointed out that the judge presiding over the case, U.S. District Judge Robert Ballou, had decided to exclude “some of our most important evidence of bias” from the trial.

The evidence not considered included “the fact that Betty Gibbs was a vocal election denier who traveled to Washington on January 6th and the fact that both defendants visited other election committees in the area and encouraged them to do exactly what they did, for the same partisan reasons,” Pershing said.

Pershing said he and Gibbons are considering appealing the jury's verdict.

Attorneys for Troxel and Gibbs declined to comment on the ruling when contacted by The News & Advance.

In previous lawsuits filed in Lynchburg and other Virginia jurisdictions in which former registrars general argued that they were not reappointed for partisan political reasons, courts occasionally ruled in the registrars' favor and, in some cases, ordered their reinstatement.

Nearly 30 years ago, Linda Arnold, who served as a registrar in Lynchburg for 12 years, was awarded $150,000 in damages after a four-day trial. In that 1995 trial, the jury returned a verdict in Arnold's favor because the Republican majority on the Board of Elections did not re-elect her because of her ties to the Democratic Party.

Evidence presented by lawyers for Troxel and Gibbs at this week's trial showed that Troxel had sought legal advice when they decided to open the post of Registrar General to new applications.

Troxel had sought advice from Virginia's Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, who responded with a letter saying it was legal to advertise the position to replace Gibbons if it was done for bipartisan reasons.

The four-day trial began on Tuesday with the selection of the eight-member jury from a pool of more than 40 people.

Former Lynchburg general registrars and poll workers, as well as Republican Rep. Wendell Walker of Lynchburg, were called as witnesses by Gibbons' attorney and testified before Gibbons himself took the stand Thursday.

Pense, Lynchburg's current registrar, was one of the witnesses called to the stand by the defense. Troxel and Gibbs also testified to defend their reasons for not appointing Gibbons as registrar general.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit let the case proceed when it ruled against a petition from Troxel and Gibbs that Gibbons could not bring suit against them as individuals in their capacity as members of the Lynchburg Board of Elections because of his “sovereignty.”Immunity towards foreign nationals refers to the fact that The government cannot be sued without its consent.