Election worker fired for talking to Jon Stewart: Lawsuit
Virginia Chau, second from right, appears on “The Problem with Jon Stewart” (AppleTV+).
An election staffer in Colorado claims in a new lawsuit that the City and County of Denver booted her from a supervisor position for allegedly talking about poll worker safety on Apple TV+’s “The Problem with Jon Stewart” show — and now she’s suing.
Virginia Chau, a Voter Service and Polling Centers supervisor fired in 2022, alleges in a civil rights lawsuit filed on Monday that Denver officials axed her shortly after her Season 2, Episode 4 appearance. She claims the city didn’t appreciate her talking about the “increasing hostility from voters” being shown at the time toward “all election judges, particularly after former President Trump was spreading the Big Lie” about the 2020 presidential election being stolen from him, Chau’s lawsuit said.
Her lawsuit, alleging her First Amendment rights were violated, names the City and County of Denver, Clerk and Recorder Paul López and Elections Director R. Todd Davidson.
“Defendants’ termination of Ms. Chau constituted unlawful retaliation against Ms. Chau, who exercised her right to free speech when she spoke out as a private citizen about issues of public concern regarding dangers to and mistreatment of election judges,” says Chau’s complaint, obtained by Law&Crime on Tuesday.
“On Jon Stewart’s show, Ms. Chau raised concerns about threats against elections officials and the lack of training provided to those who work hard to ensure that our elections are safe, fair, and accurate,” the complaint explains. “Solely for that, Defendants terminated Ms. Chau from her position as an election supervisor.”
Before being fired, Chau’s suit outlines how she and other election workers were forced to deal with constant harassment and verbal abuse following the 2020 election, which she talked about with Stewart in the Oct. 2022 episode.
“[Chau] eloquently spoke about her personal experiences as a poll supervisor,” her complaint says. “At no time did she ever represent that she was speaking on behalf of Denver.”
While chatting with Stewart, Chau described how she and many other co-workers experienced “unprecedented racism from voters” in the wake of the election and COVID-19 pandemic, with people calling her the “China virus” and blasting her as not being a “real citizen,” the complaint says.
“It’s hard getting people to want to even participate,” Chau told Stewart of election staffers in the Mile High City. “We don’t have protections for poll workers or for elected officials.”
In her suit, Chau claims Denver officials failed to provide “necessary training and resources” to election judges that would keep them safe in an “increasingly hostile workplace,” her complaint says.
“Instead of heeding Ms. Chau’s call for more resources and training for election officials facing threats to their personal safety, Defendants decided instead to retaliate against one of their best, and most passionate, election workers,” the document charges.
Chau believes that Denver officials wanted to “punish” and “silence” her following her Stewart show appearance, with them first trying to demote her before the termination.
“Defendant Davidson offered Ms. Chau a demotion to hotline representative, explicitly because no member of the public would see her in that job and recognize her from the show,” her complaint says. “Ms. Chau asked Defendant Davidson if she was being removed from public view because, as an Asian female, she might be recognizable to anyone who had seen the show. Defendant Davidson responded that Defendants did not ‘want people to recognize [her] from the show.””
According to the suit, Chau was told by higher-ups that they were “disappointed” in her AppleTV+ appearance and that “it was not fair” for her to make the comments that she did in the episode. “[Davidson] insisted that she should have first cleared what she was going to say with Defendants — even though she was not representing Denver on the show,” Chau’s complaint says.
The now-former election worker is asking for compensation for non-economic damages, economic damages, “the physical and mental pain and anguish suffered,” and other compensatory and special damages.
“Defendants’ intentional actions or inactions as described herein intentionally deprived Plaintiff of due process and of rights, privileges, liberties, and immunities secured by the Constitution of the United States of America,” Chau’s complaint says.
Representatives for the City and County of Denver, López and Davidson did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Law&Crime.
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