UPDATE ON VOTING LAWSUIT. “I expect more plaintiffs to join,” Richmond attorney Paul Goldman told Black Virginia News on Jan. 7 regarding a lawsuit filed in Dec. 2022 before the Dec. 21 Democratic primary held to nominate a candidate for Congress for the fourth congressional district.
A hearing in the case of Paul Goldman, etal v. Glenn Youngkin, etal (3:22-cv-789) is scheduled for Jan. 18 in front of Judge Roderick Young in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, according to sources involved with the lawsuit.
Goldman, a former Chair of the Virginia Democratic Party and the campaign manager for Governor Doug Wilder’s historic 1989 campaign, spoke to Black Virginia News about the voting rights suit filed before the Dec. 21 seven-day CD04 Democratic primary.
The primary featured four candidates and eight polling places. The result was a big win for State Senator Jennifer McClellan who won with 84 percent of the vote. But Goldman, who is joined by six other voters in the fourth congressional district, speaks on the details of the lawsuit and why he believes the December firehouse primary infringed on the voting rights of certain voters. Other voters listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Tavorise Marks, Tamia Douglas, Tina McCray, Julie Pope, Richard Walker and Jamale Pope.
Goldman is asked how there could be voter disenfranchisement if 26,000 voted and responds to other aspects of the lawsuit in the ten minute audio segment at the top of this page.
“I think people would be willing to settle but if the Democratic Party is insisting on defending the indefensible that’s unfortunate,” Goldman told Black Virginia News.
“How's the governor, Senator Warner, Senator Kaine and the party gonna explain, in a district where the Democratic nominee is guaranteed to win and the Supreme Court has said, we take the nomination process as the election, that people on active military service defending our country overseas and bases around the world in harm's way. That they don't get a chance to vote in person? They don't they don't have a choice to vote on who is going to send them the war? — Attorney Paul Goldman
The Democratic Party of Virginia does not comment on ongoing legal cases. They are represented by attorney Ariel Stein at the firm Bischoff Martingayle and Gov. Youngkin is likely to be defended by the Attorney General’s office.
After an initial filing on December 16, 2022, Goldman’s attorney John Janson filed an amended complaint. The complaint can be downloaded below.
Though the lead defendant is Gov. Glenn Youngkin many other entities are being sued including the Democratic Party of Virginia
JUDGE RODERICK YOUNG BIO: Roderick “Rod” C. Young of Richmond, VA serves as a United States District Judge, in the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond and Norfolk Divisions. Judge Young received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from George Mason University. Hereafter, Judge Young obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the West Virginia University College of Law. He worked as an Assistant Public Defender in Portsmouth, VA and as an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney in Richmond, VA.
Judge Young also worked as a Special Assistant United States Attorney, in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia. In that role he prosecuted cases in that office’s Narcotics and Organized Crime Unit. From 2002 until October 2014, he worked as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division. During that time, he prosecuted a number of cases involving international narcotics organizations, racketeering crime, bank robbery, tax fraud, money laundering, and other violations of federal law.
From February 2012 until October 2014, Judge Young served as the Deputy Criminal Supervisor in the United States Attorney’s Office, Richmond Division. From October 2014 until September 2020, Judge Young served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division. On September 29, 2020, Judge Young received his judicial commission and began service as a United States District Judge
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