Washington Post: “A fourth person who worked on former Virginia congressman Scott Taylor’s failed 2018 reelection bid has been charged with election fraud and turned himself in to authorities on Monday. Rob Catron, who worked as a consultant on Taylor’s campaign, was indicted June 21 on 10 counts of making a false statement and election fraud, a felony, according to court records. WAVY News 10 first reported the indictment. The allegations appear tied to a 2018 petition fraud scandal in which Taylor’s campaign sought to get a third-party spoiler candidate on the ballot, purportedly to siphon votes away from Taylor’s Democratic challenger, now-Rep. Elaine Luria.”

“But a judge ordered the candidate, Shaun Brown, off the ballot after finding many of the signatures gathered by Taylor’s campaign were forged. An investigation by the Virginian-Pilot found that some of the people whose signatures appeared on the petition were dead, while others did not recall signing anything or did not give permission for their name to be used. The scandal dogged both Taylor’s 2018 campaign and his 2020 rematch against Luria, who repeatedly bashed Taylor over the scandal as he insisted he did not know about the forged signatures. Three former staffers pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor election fraud charge as part of a plea deal, admitting to signing off as witnesses on the election petition that included the forged signatures. Their attorneys have said their clients did not know signatures were forged. It’s unclear what role prosecutors plan to allege that Catron played or what new evidence, if any, has emerged in the three-year-old case. Catron – who has worked on campaigns for Taylor dating back to Taylor’s days in the Virginia House of Delegates – declined to comment when reached Monday, as he was driving to turn himself in to authorities in Virginia Beach.