Posted on 11/12/2013 5:45:36 AM PST by ScottinVA
As we've heard in news reports, "corrections" in absentee ballot totals in Fairfax County and Richmond City have wiped out what was a 1,262-vote lead for Republican Mark Obenshain and given Democrat Mark Herring a 117-vote lead.
Now that I have that piece of misery out of the way, among the takeaways from this are a couple bad-news and good-news elements.
First the bad news... as mentioned above, Obenshain now trails Herring by a razor-thin margin of 117 votes, and Fairfax isn't finished with its counting..
However... (and comes the good news)
This morning, I did a county-by-county check on the VA SBE site and found 42 Virginia counties -- mostly RED ones -- have yet to report their provisional ballot totals. Local news reports indicated the vote totals include at least a partial count of the recorded provisional votes from Fairfax County, so -- if this is true -- most of that county's impact has already been felt. Other deep-blue locales such as Newport News, Hampton, Norfolks, Portsmouth and Arlington have already reported in with their totals.
It comes down to the remaining counties. How much of that deficit will be reduced is anyone's guess, but the main point is... the election for Virginia's next Attorney General is far from over.
Deadline for all reporting is midnight tonight. Here are the numbers as they currently stand as of 8:40 a.m. EST, 12 Nov:
Mark D. Obenshain (R) 1,103,493 49.88% Mark R. Herring (D) 1,103,610 49.89%
In a day?
The current laws on provisional votes require voters to return with proper ID to prove they were qualified to vote in that particular precinct.
Once again, rats win the close ones....
And the non-local ones....
Can you say totalitarian regime?
BTW... whatever happens with the final tabulation, a recount is a fait accompli anyway.
But it’s going to be interesting what the 42 counties come up with. That 117-vote lead could dissipate in a hurry.
BTTT!
Once again, rats win the close ones....
And the non-local ones....
Can you say totalitarian regime?
Sure can...
The one hope I’m clinging to is the fact McDonnell won by a 350-vote margin after a recount back in ‘05...
We shall see...
Wouldn’t it be simpler to just have those who show up w/o ID go home and get it? Voting places are typically not far from home.
we are all waiting with baited breath the discovery of a “trunk filled with ballots” that were found in the most leftist precinct.
In the words of Mark Steyn, we’ve got to win these things “outside of the Margin of Lawyer”.
So who will open a criminal investigation into voter fraud? How do you go from over a 1200 vote lead to a 117 vote loss?
“Wouldn’t it be simpler to just have those who show up w/o ID go home and get it? Voting places are typically not far from home.”
Generally, yes... but not always.
The forms if ID acceptable to vote in VA are as follows:
• Virginia voter registration card
• Valid Virginia driver’s license
• Military ID
• Any Federal, Virginia state or local government-issued ID
• Employer issued photo ID card
• Concealed handgun permit
• Valid student ID issued by any institution of higher education located in the Commonwealth of Virginia
• Current utility bill, bank statement, government check or paycheck indicating the name and address of the voter
• Social Security card (*please note the social security card does not satisfy special federal ID requirements)
One would think voters would think to have at least one of those documents on hand.
Fairfax County, while conducting their recanvassing of votes cast, found about 3,000 absentee votes hadn’t been recorded.
Richmond did the same and turned up some 300 ballots as well.
Don’t know what else to say on that one... the Obenshain campaign has operatives on the scene and ascertained these changes were legit.
It's not as easy to pull that off here in VA. Paper ballots are immediately processed through the scanner and recorded. If a "trunkload" were found, I'm sure the Obenshain people would be all over it like Moochelle on a pizza.
If there is a recount, the Dem wins.
Or did he do what republicans always do -- namely, roll over and take it without a fight?
The Obenshain campaign were the ones that called for the totals to be looked at in Richmond and Herring took the lead. Some precincts were left unchanged but a few were changed all in Herring’s favor.
I doubt it since it's come this far. We're not talking about John Boehner here...
Not always. Bob McDonnell won the AG race against Creigh Deeds by 290 votes. After the recount, the margin extended to about 340.
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