Herring (D) wins Virginia attorney general race, elections board announces

[alp227]

Source: Washington Post

RICHMOND — The state Board of Elections on Monday certified Democrat Mark Herring as the winner of the Nov. 5 election for Virginia attorney general, even as the board chairman raised questions about the “integrity” of the vote tallies.

A recount seems likely in the closest-ever statewide election in Virginia history, although the losing candidate did not immediately call for one.

Herring, a state senator from Loudoun County, beat state Sen. Mark Obenshain (R), by 165 votes out of more than 2 million cast.

Herring had 1,103,777 votes to Obenshain’s 1,103,612, according to the certified tally.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/herring-wins-virginia-attorney-general-race-elections-board-announces/2013/11/25/7b661082-55e7-11e3-835d-e7173847c7cc_story.html

[freshwest]

1. Great News! Should be on the Greatest Page. Thanks, Virginia!

[gopiscrap]

2. How trustworthy is the recount process in Virginia

[yellowcanine]

7. Recount not likely to change anything but if Obenshain contests the results it could.

Because the Republican controlled legislature would determine the outcome in that case.

[Kelvin Mace]

3. To answer their question:

Some Republicans have questioned why voters who cast provisional ballots in Fairfax County, a heavily Democratic jurisdiction, were given additional days to prove that their ballots should be counted.

Because you jackasses changed the rules in the middle of the election.

[Arugula Latte]

4. Fantastic!

[SunSeeker]

5. K & R

[iandhr]

6. Great news

There will be a recount though.


Keep in mind if it was our guy who was 165 votes behind we would call for it immediately.

[trublu992]

8. PHEWWW! I was worried about how the recount was going to play out

How did all those people who voted for McAuliffe vote for the Repub attorney general?

[ffr]

9. This close after throwing out, what, 40,000 voters?

Are Democrats winning even bigger than the numbers are showing?
And I believe this means Democratic candidates swept the top three spots in Virginia.

[William769]

10. Kick & recommended.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

11. Talking down the result in Va.’s attorney general race

Talking down the result in Va.’s attorney general race
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/talking-down-the-result-in-vas-attorney-general-race/2013/11/26/a0bb79c8-56c6-11e3-835d-e7173847c7cc_story.html

The Post’s View
Talking down the result in Va.’s attorney general race

By Editorial Board, Published: November 26

CHARLES E. Judd, the Republican operative who chairs Virginia’s Board of Elections, did a disservice Monday to the state he serves by simultaneously certifying the razor-thin results in the race for attorney general and suggesting, groundlessly, that they are somehow tainted. If his irresponsible remarks impugn the outcome of the race, or set the stage for a protracted fight in the state legislature or the courts, Mr. Judd will be remembered for having recast a fair election as a hyper-partisan free-for-all.
....

The trouble with Mr. Judd’s heedless comments is that they could be seized upon by Mr. Obenshain’s camp, or state Republicans, to formally “contest” the results in the General Assembly. To Mr. Obenshain’s credit, no one in his circle has threatened to choose that option. At least, not yet.

Under an obscure provision of state law, an appeal to the legislature is allowed based on ill-defined “objections to the conduct or results of the election” and “specific allegations” that might have altered the race’s outcome. The legislature, 85 of whose 140 members are Republicans, would be left to adjudicate those “objections” and “allegations.”

Mr. Judd, former executive director of the state GOP and of Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority, said his concerns would not alter the election’s outcome. Still, he may have opened the door to a challenge. Even as he voted to certify the results, he said he was disturbed that the results shifted for a few days after the Nov. 5 election — leading to see-sawing leads for the candidates — as errors were found and provisional ballots counted. Would he have preferred that the errors were ignored and the provisional ballots undercounted?

[Coyotl]

12. Margin too wide for recount to alter thius race. Wooo Hoooo

I never cheered for computer voting, but with much of the state using touch screen voting, the recount will not be able to alter this result. Touch screen machines recount the same as they vote since there are no ballots to count.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

13. Alexandria expects to recount attorney general votes by hand

Alexandria expects to recount attorney general votes by hand
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/alexandria-may-have-to-recount-ballots-by-hand/2013/11/27/46f8b76c-577e-11e3-835d-e7173847c7cc_story.html

By Patricia Sullivan, Published: November 27

To execute a recount in the Virginia attorney general’s race, Alexandria elections officials think they will have to tally by hand all the ballots in that race — 40,817 of them.

Registrar Tom Parkins said the Hart InterCivic eScan scanner that is used to record paper ballots in Alexandria can’t be programmed to recount the attorney general’s race without also recounting the other races on the ballot. Virginia law mandates that only the contested race be recounted.

“Because of the technology we use, I don’t believe we can isolate the attorney general race,” Parkins said. “If that’s the case, we’ll have to recount manually.”