Stephen M. Katz/Associated Press -
Democrat Lynwood W. Lewis Jr. thanks supporters and staff for
their efforts during his victory celebration on Jan. 7 at Guad's in
Norfolk, Va.
Lewis’s slim lead over Republican Wayne Coleman grew from nine to 11 votes over the course of the recount Monday, which Republicans and Democrats had watched closely given its outsize importance to the balance of power in Richmond. Although the candidates were still awaiting an official ruling from a three-judge panel, Coleman acknowledged the outcome just after 4 p.m. Monday.
(Jay Diem/Associated Press) - An unidentified woman steps
over an icy puddle after casting her ballot in the special election for
the District 6 seat of the Virginia Senate at the Onley, Va., polling
site on Jan. 7.
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Election officials in five localities, including Norfolk and Virginia Beach, recounted results Monday in the special election for the state Senate seat vacated this month by Lt. Gov. Ralph S. Northam (D). The district includes parts of Norfolk, Virginia Beach and the Eastern Shore.
Lewis (D-Accomack) had been certified by the State Board of Elections as the winner of the Jan. 7 contest to fill the state Senate seat vacated this month by Lt. Gov. Ralph S. Northam (D). His slim margin — nine votes out of more than 20,000 cast — entitled Coleman, a shipping company owner, to request a recount paid for by local governments.
The recount became all the more crucial last week, when Democrats kept the Northern Virginia seat previously held by Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D).
With Lewis’s victory, the chamber will remain evenly split, 20-20, but power will shift to Democrats, with Northam serving as the tie-breaking vote.
Before Northam’s inauguration this month, Republicans controlled the chamber with the tie-breaking vote of Northam’s predecessor, Republican Bill Bolling.
Several Democrats have said that, with Lewis’s victory, they intend to reorganize the Senate to take control — a plan that Republicans will protest. Some Republicans have suggested that Democrats need a two-thirds majority to change the chamber rules off-cycle. In 2012, after the last set of Senate-wide elections, Republicans took control of the chamber — including leadership positions and crucial committee chairmanships — with Bolling’s support. Democrats argued that the lieutenant governor is not allowed to vote in such organizational matters, but Republicans went ahead anyway.
If Republicans try to make the same argument, Democrats will point to the GOP’s precedent.
A three-judge panel still must certify the results, but they have already dispatched with all of the challenged ballots.
“I’m disappointed for the folks who voted for me,” Coleman said as he left the courthouse Monday. “But we improved the system with this race and surprised a lot of people.”
Each locality in the 6th Senate District began recounting its ballots at 8 a.m. Monday, with representatives from both campaigns on hand to observe the process. Ballots that local officials couldn’t agree on were sent to a special three-judge panel meeting in Virginia Beach to resolve.
In Norfolk, there were four challenged ballots — two for each candidate — but no other changes, according to Wendell D. Brown, secretary of the Norfolk Electoral Board.
Austin Chambers, campaign manager for Coleman, said there were a number of problems in Norfolk during the recount, including instances in which the number of voters checked in with poll books at certain precincts did not match the number of ballots cast.
Chambers also said the machine used to recount absentee ballots was broken, so they were recounted twice by hand. The hand recount yielded a different result each time, so the ballots were recounted a third time with the machine, which had been fixed, Chambers said.
A similar procedure unfolded on a statewide scale last month, as Herring’s victory in the attorney general’s race was also decided by a recount.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/monday-recount-will-decide-control-of-the-va-senate--and-fate-of-mcauliffe-agenda/2014/01/27/e93a2846-8756-11e3-833c-33098f9e5267_story.html?wpisrc=al_lclpolitics
