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ehrnst

(32,640 posts)
Mon May 14, 2018, 03:39 PM May 2018

Errors caused 26 Virginians to vote in wrong district during razor-thin 2017 race

Errors by Virginia election officials caused 26 voters in Newport News to vote in the wrong district during a tight state delegate race in 2017, possibly affecting the final outcome, a new Washington Post analysis of voter records has found.

Results for the state House district race between Republican David Yancey and Democrat Shelly Simonds ping-ponged following the election. Yancey won by 10 votes on Election Day. Then, Simonds won a recount by one vote. Finally, a three-judge panel declared the race was a tie and officials drew a name out of a bowl to determine a winner, which Yancey won.

According to the Post's analysis of voter records, some 26 voters who resided "in a predominantly African-American precinct that heavily favored Democrats in the fall" cast their ballots in the wrong district -- nearby HD-93. The voters lived in "seven apartment buildings built in 2016 in a fast-growing area outside the gates of Joint Base Eustis, an Army installation" and a majority had "voted since 2008 exclusively in one or more Democratic primaries," according to the Post.

A map of the district boundaries shows the buildings within the 94th District being contested by Yancey and Simonds. But the local registrar "mistakenly" placed them in the 93rd District, the registrar told the Post.


https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/14/politics/newport-news-virginia-voters-wrong-district/index.html
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drray23

(7,587 posts)
1. somehow every time we uncover mistakes they are always such that they favor the GOP candidate.
Mon May 14, 2018, 03:40 PM
May 2018

I wonder why..

Blue_Tires

(55,445 posts)
2. They just need to re-do the race at this point...
Mon May 14, 2018, 03:40 PM
May 2018

Or if need be, just seat both candidates...

Democracy shouldn't be decided by coin flips!

bigbrother05

(5,995 posts)
3. So voting irregularities and tied count should require a revote.
Mon May 14, 2018, 03:43 PM
May 2018

Think the Dem candidate tried to raise this question , but the 3 judge panel drew lots.

Wonder which one got the robe?

OneBro

(1,159 posts)
9. Are you saying they trashed the ballots?
Mon May 14, 2018, 05:16 PM
May 2018

"Virginia’s lists of voters and street blocks are housed in a statewide database. When problems regarding misassigned voters surfaced in three districts in the Fredericksburg area last year, the state Department of Elections did not look to see if there were mistakes elsewhere. Edgardo Cortés, the state elections commissioner at the time, said his department was not responsible for making sure voters were assigned to the right districts."
. . .
"The mix-up in Newport News was a frustration to Ashley McCoy, one of the 94th District voters who was incorrectly assigned to the 93rd. She voted a straight Democratic ticket that included Mullin in the House race instead of Simonds."

PoliticAverse

(26,366 posts)
11. Who voted and where is recorded. But they don't record who voted for who - that's where the "secret
Mon May 14, 2018, 05:23 PM
May 2018

ballot" thing comes from.

OneBro

(1,159 posts)
12. I'm slow, but I think I get it now.
Mon May 14, 2018, 06:14 PM
May 2018

The 26 ballots were counted in the 93rd district where they didn't make a difference, instead of being counted in the 94th district where they would have made a difference. I think that's the case.

OneBro

(1,159 posts)
4. Republicans would absolutely be drawing up a lawsuit to get those votes counted.
Mon May 14, 2018, 03:45 PM
May 2018

That is, if the roles were reversed.

underpants

(182,279 posts)
6. The tying vote the allowed was bullshit too
Mon May 14, 2018, 03:55 PM
May 2018

I could find the info on it but basically the voter clearly double voted.

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