Nottoway Voter Registrar Rodney Reynolds, who’s facing a misdemeanor Assault & Battery charge, has filed a countercharge against his accuser.
Reynolds on Monday, Aug. 11th — two weeks after the alleged incident — swore-out a warrant charging April Bakalar of Disorderly Conduct.
The alleged incidents occurred Monday, July 28th, in the Voter Registrar’s Office inside the former Burkeville Elementary School building.
Reynolds and Ms. Bakalar each appeared last Wednesday in General District Court.
Reynolds was seated on one side of the room between Electoral Board Sec. Sarah Allen and former Board member Chris Page, who was on the Board that hired Reynolds in Dec. 2021. Ms. Bakalar sat alone on the other side.
Registrar Reynolds informed Judge Thomas Stark IV that he has retained attorney Harry Montgomery of South Hill. The charge against Reynolds will be prosecuted by Amelia Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. Nottoway prosecutor Leanne Watrous has recused her office.
Ms. Bakalar told the Judge that she has no attorney but plans to hire one. It was not clear whether or not prosecutor Watrous will recuse her office from prosecuting the Registrar’s claim against Ms. Bakalar.
A trial date for both Reynolds and Ms. Bakalar is set for Wednesday, October 29th, at 11:30 a.m. in General District Court. As best can be determined, it appears that the only witnesses to the actual incident and whatever it may have involved are Registrar Reynolds and Ms. Bakalar.
Three days after the alleged incident, Ms. Bakalar sworeout a warrant, saying Reynolds cursed her as she tried to change the address on a voter registration for her 84-year-old mother. She also claims that Reynolds shoved her in the shoulder as she was leaving, after allegedly being told by Reynolds to “‘get the (expletive) out of my office!’”
In his cross warrant, Reynolds claims that Ms. Bakalar, “by her own admission” in the July 30th Courier-Record, admits that she “caused a disturbance while inside the Registrar’s office…” Registrar Reynolds said he asked Bakalar twice to leave the office, “but she would not comply.”
Reynolds said that after entering his office on the morning of July 28th, Ms. Bakalar “began loudly expressing her displeasure with the General Registrar’s office regarding a denial notice sent to who she stated was her mother, Francis Bakalar.
“Her loud and vulgar statements using explicit language, i.e.: ‘(expletitve) too small to see on the form’ and this (expletive) don’t make no sense for a 84-year-old to catch every item on the voter registration form’. I attempted to visually show April Bakalar, who at no time displayed any legal documentation giving her authority to act on Francis Bakalar’s behalf.
“April Bakalar then attempted, in plain sight, while standing at the front counter… to complete a new application for Francis Bakalar and signed without the applicant being present and without any legal document specifying her official authority to act in this manner, which I believe constitutes an act of forgery…
“The verbal assault, with a multitude of explicit words expressed in a hostile manner, generated a sense or feeling of endangerment to myself and a safety concern for the conduct of elections and harm to myself, staff, and registered voters.”
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