Buckingham Electoral Board fires Republican registrar after less than a month in the job

BUCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. (WWBT) - The Republican-appointed head of Buckingham County’s election office was fired in dramatic fashion Tuesday morning, one day after several residents showed up at a public meeting to say the turmoil and dysfunction surrounding the office were a growing embarrassment for their community.

Interim registrar Luis Gutierrez, a self-described proud Republican who was hired April 11 after the county’s entire election staff quit, tried to preempt the news of his own firing by being the first to leave a closed session and speak to a crowd gathered in a local community center for an emergency meeting of the Buckingham Electoral Board.

“You can all stand up and rejoice and start clapping and just go have a party,” Gutierrez said. “Because I have been terminated.”

Gutierrez said he had been asked to resign but refused to do so because that would be “admitting some sort of guilt.” He also said he apologized if he had disappointed or offended any Buckingham residents.

Republican Electoral Board Chairwoman Karen Cerwinski, who oversaw the hiring and firing of Gutierrez, told him he was “out of order” and appeared to briefly confer with two law enforcement officers about getting them to intervene in the situation. Gutierrez eventually left of his own accord.

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