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2018 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 275
Commending Frances Carter Ragland.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 23, 2018
Agreed to by the Senate, March 1, 2018

 

WHEREAS, to rise to public service within one’s native community, and to serve therein for decades, is a distinction achieved by the very few; and

WHEREAS, Frances Carter Ragland, a native of Goochland County and a graduate of Goochland High School, has retired after 30 years of outstanding service to the citizens of Goochland County, first as Assistant Voter Registrar, a post in which she was employed in 1985, and finally as Voter Registrar for the county, the post to which she was appointed on March 1, 1992; and

WHEREAS, during her tenure, Frances Carter Ragland supervised seven Presidential primaries, seven Presidential elections, seven Gubernatorial elections, 14 Virginia House of Delegates elections, and countless elections for County Supervisor, Clerk of the Court, Sheriff, Treasurer, Commissioner of the Revenue, School Board, political party primaries, and also special elections for vacancies in local elective offices; and

WHEREAS, Frances Carter Ragland supervised, too, the only audit of optical scan ballot tallies ever approved by the Virginia State Board of Elections, and the result of the audit of hand-counted ballots proved her machine-balloting results to be 100 percent accurate; and

WHEREAS, Frances Carter Ragland earned widespread respect from General Registrars from throughout the Commonwealth, from her employees, and from, too, the State Department of Elections for rigid adherence to the rule of law established by the Code of Virginia, despite any and all relaxed interpretations or suggested “alternate” procedures; and

WHEREAS, Frances Carter Ragland earned, too, the high regard of local political parties’ leaders and candidates for her devotion to the letter and also the spirit of all aspects of election law; and

WHEREAS, Frances Carter Ragland directed the creation and organization of the first Central Absentee Precinct in 2003, oversaw the transition from mechanical-lever voting machines to touchscreen direct-recording electronic voting machines and then to optical scan paper ballot voting, and secured and implemented electronic poll books for every precinct in the county, thus greatly increasing the efficiency of elections and reducing the time voters needed to spend in line waiting to cast their ballots; and

WHEREAS, Frances Carter Ragland also participated in and orchestrated three decennial redistricting processes for the county’s five magisterial districts, and the now current 10 polling precincts; and

WHEREAS, Frances Carter Ragland—in the words of Goochland Electoral Board officials—“created, encouraged, and sustained a culture of civic virtue that continues to inspire Goochland voters to achieve the highest percentage turnout of active voters among all jurisdictions in the Commonwealth”; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That Frances Carter Ragland be thanked and praised for her outstanding contributions to the integrity of electoral politics in her native Goochland County and therefore in the whole of the Commonwealth; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Frances Carter Ragland as she enters upon a richly deserved retirement from more than three decades of service to the fortunate citizens of Goochland County.