Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Kirk Cox issued the following statement Monday following the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission presentation on the operations and performance of Virginia’s Department of Elections.

“The report overall is disconcerting, but I am most concerned by the devastating findings on the political bias and aimless leadership under the McAuliffe administration. The report confirms what we first pointed out in October 2016 when Delegate Tim Hugo called for the resignation of the previous commissioner.

“JLARC staff also presented a number of other findings, including poor communication between ELECT and local registrars, who are the backbone of our election system, that VERIS, the database used by the Department and local registrars, is not sufficiently functional or reliable to meet the needs of general registrars, and that additional steps can be taken to ensure the integrity of our voter registration list.

“JLARC made 21 recommendations for the General Assembly to consider when it returns in January, including eliminating a number of political appointees. House Republicans have pushed election integrity reforms for several years and we will have to give top priority to these reforms, because preserving the integrity of our elections is at the heart of our democratic process.”

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