Attorney general race still uncertain

The State Board of Elections is expected today to certify Republican Robert F. McDonnell as the winner over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds in the race for attorney general … Deeds is expected to cross the street to the Richmond Circuit Count and ask for a recount, as he is allowed to by law. …

Attorney General Judith Williams Jagdmann announced that she has appointed two Washington lawyers with expertise in election law to assist her office in providing legal advice to the elections board for the recount. Jan W. Baran, a former general counsel to the Republican National Committee, and Robert F. Bauer, counsel to the Democratic Senatorial and Congressional Campaign Committees, will assist the attorney general's office. …

The McDonnell campaign has raised doubts about the vote-counting process, although it has not alleged fraud.

McDonnell's lead of 2,023 the day after the election has dwindled since then to 323 reported Wednesday. As late as Wednesday, election officials in Suffolk were making changes to the vote count. … five paper ballots were counted on election night but not added to the abstract of the vote totals the Suffolk electoral board sent to the State Board of Elections. …

The elections board stressed that a recount is simply a redetermination of the votes cast on Election Day. Recount officials are only counting the ballots that were previously cast. Any alleged irregularities cannot be called into question during a recount.

A three-judge panel of Richmond Circuit Court, headed by Chief Judge Theodore J. Markow, would preside over the recount.

The changing vote totals have cast a spotlight on the human error that can occur in an election. … Since the day-after-election tally, … McDonnell gained 1,600 votes, while Deeds picked up 3,200 … most errors involved transposed numbers.

[CS, can you ping the "Virginia Campaign News" readers?]

An interesting tidbit: The Vice Chair of the Fairfax County Electoral Board is the husband of the unsuccessful dem nominee for Lt Gov. The husband's influence on Republican observers of the vote count was noted even by the Washington Post. (Fairfax County provided almost 14% of the votes in Virginia. In an election with a statewide margin of one/one-hundredth of one percent, the dem candidate for Atty Gen led in liberal-leaning Fairfax County by 57.71% to 42.20%; 154,431 votes for dem Deeds to 112,943 for GOP McDonnell.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/10/AR2005111002073_2.html

"... There was some tension at the Fairfax County office. Lawyer Patricia Paoletta, who was a Republican observer, said she was looking over an election worker's shoulder when she was asked to move against a wall. 'I argued that we had a legal right to observe the canvass and that the plain meaning of observe meant you had to be able to see the numbers,' Paoletta said.

The vice chairman of the electoral board, Larry Byrne, asked her to move. Byrne's wife, Leslie L. Byrne, unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor on the Democratic ticket. Byrne said he asked Paoletta to move because having observers too close 'delays the process.' 'They are allowed to observe, it but that doesn't mean they are allowed to stand over anyone's shoulder,' he said."

"McDonnell Wins Attorney General Race - Republican Slips by Deeds With 323 More Votes"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/28/AR2005112800906.html

"Virginia election officials Monday certified Republican Del. Robert F. McDonnell as the winner of the election for state attorney general with 323 more votes than Democratic Sen. R. Creigh Deeds out of 1.94 million cast.

"McDonnell immediately claimed the mantle of attorney general-elect, but aides to Deeds said the senator will ask the courts on Tuesday to conduct a recount in what attorneys and advocates on both sides say is the closest statewide race in Virginia history.

"According to the results certified by the state board of elections, McDonnell received 970,886 votes and Deeds received 970,563 in the Nov. 8 election. There were 1,801 write-in votes cast, election officials announced at a public meeting attended by reporters and by lawyers for both men.

" 'Mr. McDonnell is the winner of that race," the election board chairman, Michael Brown, said.' ... "

STATEMENT OF FORMER DEMOCRAT ATTORNEY GENERAL AND FORMER STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS MEMBER-Regarding the Attorney General Election-

November 22, 2005

RICHMOND Former Democrat Attorney General Stephen Rosenthal and former State Board of Elections member and Republican Delegate John H. ("Jack") Rust issued the following statement today regarding the Attorney General election:

"We are troubled by the lack of transparency in a vote certification process that consistently has shifted vote totals in the attorney general election."

"Election day is a public event open to observers. Local electoral boards were required by law to conduct canvasses at public meetings attended by citizens, the press, and observers from both political parties. After the local canvasses concluded, however, the State Board of Elections' certification process has gone behind closed doors with little or no explanation to the public. In what should be an open and readily apparent vote certification process, the State Board appears to have ignored its role of managing the certification process and has allowed local electoral boards free reign to do so without public involvement."

"After the initial election night count, the margin of victory was roughly 3,000 votes. In the ensuing time, that margin has decreased by about 90% to less than 350 votes. The public and both political parties have been provided little explanation by neither the State Board nor the local election boards for such a significant shift in vote tallies."

"We agree wholeheartedly with respected political scientist Larry Sabato as quoted in the Richmond Times-Dispatch: "'It's amazing, that's all you can say,' he said. 'The net changes are all going in one direction, toward the Democrat, which is unusual but possible.'"

"The statistical unlikelihood of such an odd occurrence raises concerns. More worrisome is the undisclosed process, not provided for in the Code of Virginia, by which some of these changes have been discovered. For example, the State Board of Elections notified both campaigns that 56 additional paper ballots had yet to be counted in Chesapeake. This number subsequently has changed multiple times. Apparently, additional ballots were counted last Friday. Then, after the counting was supposedly complete, the tally changed again on Monday with no explanation other than that an 'error' had been made. Last Thursday, the State Board of Elections reduced the vote total for Bob McDonnell by 10 votes in Fauquier County notwithstanding the fact that the Fauquier County electoral board had certified the higher number and without providing any explanation to the public."

"It appears that the electoral boards in Chesapeake, Fauquier and elsewhere have unilaterally decided to re-open sealed envelopes or locked machines or to change vote totals without public participation and without being directed to do so by the three-member State Board of Elections or a court. Such renegade vote 'counting' falls outside the powers these boards hold under the law of Virginia and raises serious questions about the integrity of the process by which the vote total has changed since Election Day."

"We call upon the State Board of Elections to manage and control a certification process that is fair and transparent to the public, press and both political parties."

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