It's Official: Obenshain certified loser -- but wait, there's more!

Thundar said:

How would that happen? Provisional ballots have a name on them, but most ballots do not.

Click to expand...

Grapeshot said:

As I understand it, names were on the rolls (they were not provisional ballots) but people had moved or otherwise should have been disqualified. It has been suggested that there are several thousand of them. Have even heard/seen conversation about possible ACLU law suit, BUT I have no documented knowledge of any of this.

Click to expand...

peter nap said:

My understanding is that he was directed to investigate and purge by the BOE.

Under Va law that had to be done within 30 days and he refused.
I've heard the same rumor about a lawsuit but he had better hope Obenshain isn't elected on a recount.
Vengeance is mine sayeth the AG:lol:

Click to expand...

skidmark said:

Recount has been requested.

Paging Chad. Chad to the white courtesy phone, please.

stay safe.

Click to expand...

peter nap said:

My understanding is that he was directed to investigate and purge by the BOE.

Under Va law that had to be done within 30 days and he refused.
I've heard the same rumor about a lawsuit but he had better hope Obenshain isn't elected on a recount.
Vengeance is mine sayeth the AG:lol:

Click to expand...

Thundar said:

I understand what you and Grapeshot are saying and actually agree that a certain person should be prosecuted for gross dereliction of duty, and possibly the intentional fixing of the election.

My question is how would you remedy the skewed election result? Trying to segregate the legitimate ballots cast from those cast by ineligibles seems to be an impossible task akin to getting the toothpaste back in the tube.

Since we can't segregate the illegitimate votes from the legitimate votes, there are only 3 options:

1) proportional reduction of the vote

2) accept all votes

3) reject all votes.

Option 2 is the only real option because there is no authority to pick 1 or 3.

Click to expand...

Mark Obenshain’s legal team on Wednesday filed for a recount of the attorney general’s race in which Democrat Mark Herring was certified the winner by 165 votes.

Herring’s slim victory in the Virginia election could be overturned by an estimated 50,000 uncounted “undervotes” among the 2.2 million ballots cast.

Obenshain attorney Stephen Piepgrass said undervotes “should be carefully scrutinized,” but added that his team was not singling out specific votes in the recount.

A three-judge court, headed by the chief judge of the Richmond Circuit Court, will supervise the statewide recount in mid-December.

Local recounts should take one day in most jurisdictions – and two or more days in larger counties – Piepgrass said.

He said the Obenshain team is working with Herring’s lawyers “to keep the process civil.”

The day of the recount, in each locality, recount teams will:

• Run optical scan ballots through tabulating machines.
• Recount by hand any optical scan ballots that are rejected from the machines.
• Recount by hand provisional ballots, cast by voters whose eligibility or identification could not be ascertained.
• Recount by hand absentee ballots.
• Re-tally the tapes printed by direct-recording electronic voting machines.
• Reprint and re-tally any illegible tapes printed on election night.

If election officials cannot agree on how to count certain ballots, those ballots will be sent to Richmond for the recount court to adjudicate. The results from all localities will then be totaled and the three judges will declare the winner.

House Speaker William Howell, in a statement issued Tuesday, said, “Like many others, I have heard concerns from voters across the commonwealth that in a race separated by seven one thousandths of a percent, we must take extra care to ensure an accurate result. I cannot imagine a more appropriate use of Virginia’s recount laws.

“We must eliminate any potential lingering errors in the vote tabulation and give close scrutiny to questions raised in the certification process by the State Board of Elections Chairman Charlie Judd. The people of Virginia should have complete confidence that every legitimate vote has been counted.”

Judd referenced the extended period Fairfax County gave to considering, and accepting, provisional ballots. Virginia’s largest county also reported more than 5,000 “undervotes,” where optical scan machines may have failed to accurately tally ballots.

Political analyst Ben Tribbett estimated on Monday that as many as 50,000 undervotes have yet to be counted statewide. Piepgrass concurred with Tribbett’s calculation.

Republican State Leadership Committee President Chris Jankowski, speaking on behalf of the Republican Attorneys General Association, said, “The irregularities we’ve seen in Fairfax County make clear the need for a recount. Virginia’s updated recount law, sponsored by (Democratic) Sen. Creigh Deeds, mandates that optical scan ballots be re-run and if rejected by machine be tabulated by hand.

“The possibility of thousands of undervotes being counted is sound reason for a recount.”

Click to expand...

Thundar said:

I understand what you and Grapeshot are saying and actually agree that a certain person should be prosecuted for gross dereliction of duty, and possibly the intentional fixing of the election.

My question is how would you remedy the skewed election result? Trying to segregate the legitimate ballots cast from those cast by ineligibles seems to be an impossible task akin to getting the toothpaste back in the tube.

Since we can't segregate the illegitimate votes from the legitimate votes, there are only 3 options:

1) proportional reduction of the vote

2) accept all votes

3) reject all votes.

Option 2 is the only real option because there is no authority to pick 1 or 3.

Click to expand...

Grapeshot said:

Aaah, but there is. The GA has a trump card thanks to Sen. Deeds. Go back and reread the OP.

Click to expand...

Thundar said:

If you are speaking of the "Nuclear Option" in Repeater's post, you are not talking about recounts, you are talking about contesting the election, which is a completely different animal.

Have you heard any talk from Obenshain's people that they were going to contest the election? I got a message from his campaign saying that they were asking for a recount, but not one word on contesting the election.

Click to expand...

davidmcbeth said:

First step in process: recount ...

Second step (if opponent is not happy): 2nd recount (on their dime)

3rd step..court

This is my guess based on the number of elections I was involved with....


So, all this talk is just talk until the recount is completed. I assure you, there are procedures to follow.

Click to expand...

davidmcbeth said:

First step in process: recount ...

Second step (if opponent is not happy): 2nd recount (on their dime)

3rd step..court

This is my guess based on the number of elections I was involved with....


So, all this talk is just talk until the recount is completed. I assure you, there are procedures to follow.

Click to expand...

Republican Mark Obenshain formally filed for a recount of the Nov. 5 election for attorney general today, initiating a court-supervised process for deciding the closest statewide election in modern Virginia history.

Obenshain’s lawyers filed the petition in Richmond Circuit Court two days after the state board of elections certified Democrat Mark Herring’s 165-vote victory. Herring received 1,103,777 votes to Obenshain’s 1,103,622, according to the board-certified results. The margin is close enough to warrant a taxpayer-funded recount.

In Obenshain’s petition, lawyers noted that the chairman of the state board of elections voiced concerns about “the integrity of the data” during Monday’s certification process. They also noted that state law allows the election results to be contested in the General Assembly, a body controlled by Republicans.

“The fundamental difference between the two procedures is that a recount focuses on the ballots actually cast and determines the number cast for each candidate (Potentially yielding a different result due, for example, to uncounted ballots, addition errors, transposition of numbers, etc.), while a contest challenges the integrity of the election process (raising, for example, issues such as voter ineligibility, fraud, significant departures on election day from prescribed procedures).”

For now, the election’s outcome hinges on the court-supervised recount process.Judge Bradley Cavedo, the chief judge of the Richmond Circuit Court, will head a three-judge recount court. The other two judges will be appointed by the chief justice of the Virginia Supreme Court.

According to Obenshain’s petition, lawyers for both candidates have agreed that a preliminary hearing should be held next Wednesday, Dec. 4. Obenshain’s lawyers also auggested that the actual recount could occur on Dec. 18 or Dec. 19. Obenshain’s lawyers suggested in their petition that the recount could occur on Dec. 18 or Dec. 19.

The actual recount will be performed by two-member teams of election officials in every locality. The work is coordinated by one Republican and one Democratic member of each electoral board.

Click to expand...

We’re going to need all hands on deck. We have already seen an overwhelming outpouring of support during the canvass process. For that, Suzanne and I and the whole Obenshain team will be forever grateful. If someone from the campaign has not already reached out to you, we’ll be calling on you once again to lend your time, your talents and, if you’re able, to contribute to our recount fund.

The other side has employed the lead attorney from the Al Franken recount in 2008. To make sure that your voice is heard and that we get a fair process, we’ll need to fully fund our legal response team.

Click to expand...

The recount of Virginia’s exceedingly tight race for attorney general will happen the week of Dec. 16, a Richmond judge ruled Wednesday, as lawyers for the two candidates sparred over the procedures that will govern the ballot tally and the crucial days leading up to it.

A handful of Republicans have already raised questions about the way ballots were counted around the state, particularly in Fairfax, and will be watching the recount even more closely for irregularities.

...

Under Virginia law, the recount will be overseen by a special court, and the lead judge — Beverly W. Snukals of the Richmond Circuit Court — heard from both sides Wednesday before issuing some preliminary rulings to get the ball rolling.

Fairfax County, the most populous locality by a wide margin, will begin its recount on Monday, Dec. 16, while the rest of the state will commence Dec. 17. The recount court — which will include Norfolk Circuit Court Judge Junius P. Fulton III and Danville Circuit Court Judge Joseph W. Milam Jr., as well as Snukals — will begin examining the results from localities and review challenged ballots Dec. 19 in hopes of concluding the entire process by Dec. 20.

Obenshain lawyer William H. Hurd consistently pushed Wednesday for procedures that would likely result in more challenged ballots and more potential avenues for the loser to challenge the final numbers. Hamilton asked for faster proceedings and less disclosure of election materials from each locality.

While the two campaigns were able to agree on several issues before the hearing, they split on some key questions, including the role that will be played by the recount observers stationed by both campaigns in every jurisdiction to watch the ballot counting.

Hurd argued that the observers should be able to suggest to local recount officials – in most localities, the Republican chair and Democratic secretary of the electoral board – whether a ballot should be challenged and sent to Richmond for review by the court. Hamilton said that could interfere with the process and allow partisan observers to dictate to election officials how to handle each ballot.

Click to expand...

The Richmond judge who would normally preside over the recount in the tight Virginia attorney general race has recused himself, possibly because of his close ties to the family of state Sen. Mark Obenshain.

But Bradley B. Cavedo, holder of that title, recused himself from the recount case last week, according to Ed Jewett, the court’s chief deputy clerk. Instead, the recount will be overseen by another circuit court judge, Beverly W. Snukals, who was selected for the task by the Virginia Supreme Court. Two other judges, also selected by the Supreme Court, will participate in the recount court.

Cavedo did not say publicly why he was recusing himself, Jewett said. But Cavedo has a long-standing tie to Obenshain’s family: Cavedo served as an aide and driver to Richard “Dick” Obenshain (R) — Mark’s father — during the elder Obenshain’s run for U.S. Senate in 1978. Dick Obenshain died in a plane crash that year shortly after winning the GOP nomination.

“Nearly twenty-five years ago, my life was forever changed when I went to work in the U.S. Senate campaign for one of the great Virginians of the last century – Richard D. Obenshain. I was his assistant and driver, and together we traveled 50,000 miles across Virginia,” Cavedo said when he was sworn in as a circuit court judge in 2002, according to a comment Cavedo posted on the conservative blog Bearing Drift in 2008.

Click to expand...

“It’s apparent that our campaign is going to come up a few votes short,” Obenshain told reporters at an afternoon news conference on Richmond’s Capitol Square.

Click to expand...

Repeater said:

So, is traditional Virginia over?

Obenshain concedes Virginia attorney general’s race

Click to expand...

peter nap said:

Not for this session anyway. This opens up a Dem seat in the Senate. It's doubtful it will be filled before the session so that's one Democratic seat down.

Who knows what'll happen when the special election does roll around.

Click to expand...