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%
From people following this race close I’ve seen that Obenshain would need 62.5% of provisionals left to tie the race. I think there are around 450 left.
I think that Democrats tend to hold back votes on election night. They don’t report the full totals from Democrat leaning areas.
Then, if it’s a close election and we go to a recount, that’s when they pull out the 3,000 absentee votes that had not yet been counted, or the 300 ballots that were uncounted in Richmond.
If it turns out not to be a close election, then these votes would never be reported at all. They are held back to be counted if needed.
Hate to be so cynical, but this happens in state after state, election after election.
In recounts, Democrats always gain votes.
Even in Florida in 2000, Al Gore picked up over 1,000 votes in the recount. Bush was ahead by 1,900 votes on election night, but at the end of the 36 day recount, he was declared the winner in Florida by 537 votes. Gore picked up about 1,400 votes.
Al Franken picked up about 1,000 votes in the Minnesota recount, which was enough to wipe out Norm Coleman’s lead of 700 votes on election night.
So, while these extra votes discovered by doing the recanvassing may well have been legitimate, my point is that they hold back votes on purpose, in case of a recount. Then, they will say, as we’re saying here, well, these are legitimate changes and all that.
That possibility exists, albeit slim. There are 42 counties and locales, most of which are RED, that have not posted their totals of provisional ballots.
Also, don't forget the recount will follow.
Yes I agree its slim but still a chance. I think Herring even picked up 2 votes through provisionals in Montgomery County. I think we need to be ahead going into the recount.
That is the past, in 2005 when VA was still a red state. The Dems are better organized, more zealous, and more numerous. They will steal this election. Once Herring nosed in front, it was all over.
I agree. EVERYONE should have to submit their totals IN UNISON. If they need more time to tally their absentees, then fine, but NO reporting until all are complete. So what if it takes a couple extra days?
More purple than red. We'd already had four years of St. Mark the Warner, and the 2005 election is what brought the other Obama sycophant Tim Kaine to the governor's seat.
Agreed. Everyone should report vote totals at the same time, and be required to do so in full. No exceptions.
If votes are found in the trunk of a car afterwards, too bad. They won’t be counted.
We need tighter vote counting procedures in this country. We’re supposed to believe in election after election, that, oh mygosh, look over here, there’s a bag of votes that were missed on election night. Look over there, a big batch of absentee ballots were missed. And it just so happens that these are votes from Democrat leaning areas.
I fully agree. Even if it takes a few days to tally up absentee votes or provisional votes, take the time needed to do so, but no one is permitted to report vote totals until everyone is ready to do so. This business of seeing how vote counts have come in from other areas, and then being able to see if you need to pad your totals from Democrat leaning areas is disenfranchising voters.
Exactly. And the owner of that vehicle should be prosecuted for voter fraud. NO rationale exists for having these in possession. They should always be stored in a secured facility.
I was a poll watcher in Fairfax County on election day. We had about a dozen provisional ballots, most of them due to claims by the voter that they had registered at the DMV. Their names were not on the books as registered voters even though they had VA driver's licenses. The precinct went two to one Dem. Turnout was over 60%. Many minority voters, mostly Asian.
It will be a very, very long time before a Rep ever wins Fairfax County again. No Rep was even on the ballot for the House of Delegates in my district. The Dem ran unopposed.
And sure as hell... NO MEDIA PROJECTIONS ON WINNERS. That, more than anything else, suppresses voter participation for those in later time zones.
Maybe a good analogy would be how business deposits cash into the bank. There are strict requirements for handling cash, getting the cash deposit into the bank, recording cash in the accounting records, etc. An employee who has cash just sitting in the trunk of the car would be fired and prosecuted for theft. We should do no less with counting of votes in elections.
Let’s wonder how many in No VA and else where showed up with a “utility bill”.....remember 2012 and Moran’s son....
Fraud!
By Wed afternoon, my precinct had not reported due to a “glitch”...
Never happened before in our 8 years here.
Bingo!
This, from the (Newport News) Daily Press:
“Local electoral board decisions on a total of more than 670 provisional votes — including three in Poquoson, six in New Kent, 13 in King William, two in Middlesex and one each in Surry and King and Queen (my note: all but Surry are distinctly RED) — have yet to be reported to the Board of Elections. Provisional ballots are votes cast by people election officers could not immediately determine were eligible to vote, and the local electoral boards must review them to determine which will count. The State Board of Elections is to certify results on Nov 25. After that, the loser has 10 days to petition the Richmond Circuit Court for a recount.”
It's like a completely different state up there, isn't it... I'd be very happy to see Fairfax County ceded to DC.
Rachhell Maddow reports last night the current law was changed to reflect Cuchineli demand voters return to show ID.
I believe the Va. election is being frankenized.
True. When the inevitable corruption erupts, a Democrat AG will neither investigate a Democrat governor nor Democrat funded voter groups.
Seems that way. My statehouse rep, Donna Frizzyhead Howard won by 12 votes, after she had some military absentee ballots thrown out because they were too late.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.