#VAAG Race - Multiple Dem sources - "smoking gun" something is up Fairfax Co = 3,000 missing votes

[Coyotl]

Last edited Fri Nov 8, 2013, 01:44 AM - Edit history (1)

#VAAG news is coming in on Twitter at this point - https://twitter.com/Redistrict

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 1 hr ago
Multiple Dem sources now emailing me claiming they have the "smoking gun" that something is up in Fairfax County #VAAG. We'll see.

This is BIG NEWS = 3,000 missing absentee ballots in Fairfax will change the outcome in favor of Herring

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 27m ago
And if there are indeed ~3,000 missing Fairfax #VA08 absentee votes, that'd almost certainly be the miracle Herring (D) needs to pull ahead.

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 32m
One Fairfax politics veteran theorizes one #VA08 in-person absentee location's votes were somehow not added to the county's tally.

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 34m
The more I look at the data, the totality of the evidence points towards the likelihood that there are ~3,000 untallied Fairfax Co. votes.

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 59m
@bdomenech @PatrickRuffini I'm not saying anyone is lying. I'm saying there are large unaccounted-for discrepancies in vote totals.

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 1h
For anyone who wants to check my math, here's my spreadsheet allocating Fairfax's absentee requests by cong. dist.: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvOrrxBeaarVdEVOalJVVFE2Q2tnZ2hhNDNSS3JhM0E&usp=sharing …

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 3h
If there is a way for @SenMarkHerring to overcome a 777 vote deficit, Dems still believe it is mystery absentees in Fairfax Co. More soon...

=================
Previous news blog here:

Looks like we may have WON the Virginia Attorney General race.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023987734

[JaneyVee]

1. Seeing VAAG news made me LOL a bit.

ETA: I think we should press this issue. You know damn well our opposition would be.

[Agschmid]

2. Me too.

I know... Classless.

[billhicks76]

47. WI

Here we go again...democrats wimp out in the end to not appear as sore losers. Wake up...it's not 1980.

[StrayKat]

73. How have we wimped out in this?

Did someone concede?

Provisional voters still have a few more hours to bring in ID, so technically, voting isn't even done yet. And, the candidates have 10 days to appeal.

[crim son]

117. ?

How so? Please explain your remark.

[billhicks76]

142. Not Again

Ive just been disappointed so many times by our representatives being too scared to fight for those votes and confront vote tally manipulations. It's the media's fault too for not focusing on the problems. They won't cover republican theft of votes but they will cover some republican talking about needing voter ID for some imaginary double voting scenario. It's obvious Big Media will kiss the butts of the Tea Party for more market share and ratings. 60 Minutes Bengazi BS-case in point.

[bluestate10]

86. The thing that has me steaming is that some Democrats didn't show up Tuesday.

It should have been a fucking given that teabaggers would die to get to the polls, and teabaggers did just that. There is no one to blame but Democratic voters in Virginia. Forget Judges, forget voter roll purges, that shit was KNOWN and Democratic voters still sat the race out, almost lost the Governor's race and look to lose the AG race.

[onenote]

89. Self identified Democrats had a higher turn out by 5 percent than self identified repubs

[bluestate10]

99. If one looks at African Americans, yes. No other Democratic group turned out,

that is a fact that Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes put numbers to over the last two shows of theirs. I repeat myself, if the republican wins, which looks like, Democrats in Virginia have no one to blame but themselves, save African Americans. The purist, who don't like corporatist candidates, definitely should blame themselves and STFU while they are at it and during the future.

[Coyotl]

100. Why are you besmearing this thread with an off-topic tirade?

Please remove your offensive postings and the offensive language which causes this thread to be filtered by search engines.

[aquart]

174. Nothing offensive except the ugly truth: Purist Dems tried to dick us out of the VA election.

Like they gave away the House AND REDISTRICTING in 2010.

IF WE VOTE, WE WIN.

[winter is coming]

3. And...

Brian W. Schoeneman ?@BrianSchoeneman 3m

@Redistrict @notlarrysabato I've talked to the GR and we are working on this as we speak - I am convinced now too that there is an issue

Brian Schoeneman is some sort of election official in Fairfax County.

[Raine1967]

8. Whoah, that's big.

He's the Fairfax County Electoral Board Secretary.

[Coyotl]

11. He just reported heading to sleep, then back at it early.

https://twitter.com/BrianSchoeneman

Brian W. Schoeneman
@BrianSchoeneman

Maritime labor lobbyist, Republican public official (Sec. Ffx. Elec. Board), lawyer, former Bush staffer, blogger ...
Fairfax, VA · bearingdrift.com

[Coyotl]

4. "We are committed to getting this right and doing so in a transparent way."

Brian W. Schoeneman ?@BrianSchoeneman 11m ago
We are committed to getting this right and doing so in a transparent way.

Brian W. Schoeneman
@BrianSchoeneman
https://twitter.com/BrianSchoeneman
Maritime labor lobbyist, Republican public official (Sec. Ffx. Elec. Board), lawyer, former Bush staffer, blogger, ....
Fairfax, VA

[BlueStreak]

25. Realy, how hard can it be?

The votes are either there or they aren't. If it takes 24 yours to answer that question, that is because people are covering their tracks.

[Coyotl]

39. Much harder if the ballots are missing!

[BlueStreak]

82. Excatly. Whenever you see this kind of stall you know

somebody has been stealing votes. If it were a legitimate counting issue, it would take no more than 30 minutes to resolve.

[Coyotl]

84. To be fair, this "discovery" happened after hours yesterday. But I'm suspicious too. See post #80.

Last edited Fri Nov 8, 2013, 11:03 AM - Edit history (1)

Post #80

No doubt, the sleuths are busy working the data even harder now, looking for more irregularities in the absentee counts.

[Coyotl]

5. Ben Tribbett piecing together the missing votes mystery as we read the news.

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 3m ago
No one knows Fairfax politics more intimately than @notlarrysabato - and he's piecing together the missing votes mystery as we speak.

Ben Tribbett - https://twitter.com/notlarrysabato
@notlarrysabato
Virginia Politics Blogger and vicious campaign insultant.

Ben Tribbett ?@notlarrysabato 2m ago
Got off the phone w @BrianSchoeneman and explained the issue to him. Glad to have a Republican on Elec-Board making sure every vote counts.

[Coyotl]

6. Hashtags to follow: #VAAG #VAPolitics .... approx a 1500 Herring lead?

Last edited Fri Nov 8, 2013, 01:38 AM - Edit history (1)

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23VAAG

Larry Zilliox ?@Tango449 4m ago
If reports of uncounted absentee ballots in the heavily Democratic Fairfax County are true Mark Herring will win #VAAG race. #VAPolitics

Laura McDonald ?@lamcdonald8 8m ago
If they awarded a Pulitzer for twitter reporting, @Redistrict would be at the top of the list. Fantastic ongoing coverage of #VAAG race.

Berkeley Man ?@BerkeleyMan 20m ago
@Redistrict @laurenharmon @JChaseWilliams Dave, thank you for your excellent detective work, google docs and most of all transparency! #vaag

Josh ?@JHillVA 33m ago
For those not following @Redistrict He thinks a in person AB machine wasn't tallied. Approx 3K votes = approx a 1500 herring lead.

[Blue Owl]

7. Is Kathy Nicklaus freelancing in Virginia?

[Tx4obama]

9. Looks like Herring is still in it and might win it :) n/t

[hrmjustin]

10. When are these votes going to be counted?

[Coyotl]

13. First they have to find the missing ballots, I think!!

Smoke, but no gun??

[hrmjustin]

15. Oh God!

We can't even hold an election.

[Botany]

152. This does not pass my smell test

"One Fairfax politics veteran theorizes one #VA08 in-person absentee location's
votes were somehow not added to the county's tally."

At least in Ohio the county BOE adds the absentee votes, the early vote,
and the results from the various precincts together after the polls close on
election night and after that previsional ballots are added to the total ONLY
AFTER the voter is verified as a legit registered voter. BOEs have check lists
to make sure that all the vote is in and has been counted ..... losing 3,000
absentee votes seems mighty unusual.

[Coyotl]

153. Something to watch for now that we know the modis operandi. They almost got away with it.

With only hours remaining before certification, they had to admit they had been caught in an "error" and then they tried to blame the machines!! That's a "protesteth too much" if i ever heard one. Why lie if you have nothing to hide? And then 'activists' like Brad fall for the lie and spread it as gospel.

[Botany]

168. machines aka computers do what they are told to do by their programs or operating systems

the program for a voting machine should be simple

1+1+1+1+1 = 5

[Tx4obama]

16. Most likely they will be looking for them in the morning. n/t

[hrmjustin]

17. How do these people loose 3,000 ballots? My God!

[winter is coming]

19. "How" is a good question. But they've crunched the numbers and concluded

that what's most likely missing are in-person absentee ballots voted at two specific locations (and possibly a third).

[Coyotl]

20. Or, make a mistake in reporting the counts?

Especially when the race is sooo close

[Tx4obama]

21. They probably did not lose the ballots they just didn't add them into the totals. n/t

[winter is coming]

31. They've been doing corrections all day and the totals have been seesawing.

On one hand, it's horrifying how many mistakes they've found. On the other, lots of election workers are there 12+ hours, so is it surprising there are mistakes made at the end of a long, long day?

[Tx4obama]

37. Yes, but this is different. These missing votes were 'never' counted at all yet.

And apparently didn't even know they were missing until Wasserman and other pointed it out to them.

[winter is coming]

40. That I don't understand, but I'm not sure what sort of paperwork they keep or

how/when they review it. There should be something in place to cross-check for this kind of problem, but it may be that they haven't gotten to the point in the canvass where they'd encounter that cross-check.

[Tx4obama]

45. All day yesterday and today they did the canvass checking their numbers for typos etc...

... the canvassing ends at noon tomorrow, I think but not sure.

Hopefully they will find all the absentee ballots in time.

[onenote]

92. the changes aren't just "mistakes"

Its adding provisionals and absentee ballots precinct by precinct as they are reported.

[winter is coming]

96. True, but I've seen several tweets that were pointing out errors. n/t

[Coyotl]

12. Wa Post article: Possible discrepancy in Fairfax absentee votes could affect count in AG race

They sure got this long article and graphics together quickly:

Possible discrepancy in Fairfax absentee votes could affect count in AG race
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/possible-discrepancy-in-fairfax-absentee-votes-could-affect-count-in-ag-race/2013/11/07/65108ad0-4825-11e3-bf0c-cebf37c6f484_story.html

By Ben Pershing, Thursday, November 7, 8:30 PM

The Fairfax County Electoral Board is investigating a possible irregularity in the number of absentee ballots cast in Virginia’s largest jurisdiction that Democrats say could shift votes in the still-unresolved race for Virginia attorney general.

As of Thursday evening, state Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) led state Sen. Mark R. Herring (D-Loudoun) in the contest by 777 votes – or .03 percent of 2.2 million cast – according to the State Board of Elections website. Local election boards are now counting provisional ballots, cast by people without ID or in the wrong polling place, and canvassing the returns looking for any possible errors. Both campaigns have said they will consider asking for a recount, depending on the results of the review.

.........

[Coyotl]

14. MORE Brian W. Schoeneman tweets

Brian W. Schoeneman ?@BrianSchoeneman 5m
@dmataconis @NathanWurtzel Absolutely. Just have to keep in mind we're dealing with human beings here, so errors are inevitable.

Brian W. Schoeneman ?@BrianSchoeneman 10m
@NathanWurtzel @dmataconis They're already assuming the worst. But as I've said - the whole point of the canvass is to find errors.

[malaise]

18. Question - was in in Virginia that they found all those dumped

votes last year?

[pinboy3niner]

22. Those were voter reg forms that were tossed in a dumpster in VA

Man charged after tossing voter registration forms in Virginia
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57535950/

[malaise]

26. Thanks - I knew the scoundrels were up to no good

for some time

[elleng]

28. Yes but not in Fairfax, which is NoVa,

in southern VA.

[malaise]

30. Thanks - love this part

Brian Moran, the chairman of the Democratic party of Virginia, called on Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and state authorities to investigate whether the recent incident could be tied to a larger effort of voter suppression.

"This individual was an employee of the first firm the Republican Party of Virginia hired to do voter registration before they fired that firm amidst allegations of fraud in other states. Virginians deserve answers as to how this person was still working for Republican campaigns here and whether his behavior was directed by his superiors or party officials," he said. "In order to assure Virginians that this was not part of a larger Republican effort, Attorney General Cuccinelli and state authorities must conduct a thorough investigation into how Virginia Republicans conduct their voter registration and turnout efforts on behalf of George Allen, Mitt Romney and Republicans across the state.

In a statement, Republican Party of Virginia chair Pat Mullins called Small's actions "a direct contradiction of both his training and explicit instructions given to him."

"We were alarmed by allegations recently made regarding an individual in Harrisonburg," he said. "The Republican Party of Virginia will not tolerate any action by any person that could threaten the integrity of our electoral process."

[Coyotl]

23. Important to note. This is happening because activists are sleuthing the results in spreadsheet

created by Dave Wassernman. The results are being crowd sourced and findings are instantly tweeted. You can download the spreadsheet and join the analysis.

[pinboy3niner]

27. It's very hungry work

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 15m

Third night in a row I've been at office past midnight & forgot to eat dinner. Anyone up for some Last Chance Cafe (Clarendon Silver Diner)?

[Tx4obama]

32. David Wasserman has done an awesome job over the past three days. n/t

[pinboy3niner]

34. One of his followers' tweets said he should get a Pulitzer for his electoral detective work

Some kind of public award would be very fitting.

[winter is coming]

38. I have to agree. I've been following his Twitter feed since Tuesday night and he's

been tireless. Very good about looking for discrepancies, explaining them, and where the tally would be if each correction were made.

[Tx4obama]

41. We need election reform nationally so that this kind of crap can't happen.

Like up in that northwestern state where everyone votes by mail and all the ballots go to one place.

[winter is coming]

94. +1 million. 'Course, we'd need some sort of safeguard against things getting "lost" in the mail. nt

[MoonRiver]

129. OMG, we've been talking about election reform since Dimson stole the White House!

WHEN is it going to happen???

[Nine]

144. + 1,000,000

If we don't fix this, all the rest is pointless.

[Tx4obama]

24. The 2,500-3,000 missing votes happen to be from some of the most Democratic precincts in Fairfax Co

Ben Tribbett ?@notlarrysabato

The 2,500-3,000 missing votes happen to be from some of the most Democratic precincts in Fairfax County. Big margin for Herring.

https://twitter.com/notlarrysabato/status/398678931479339008

[Tx4obama]

29. We need some more recs on this thread to get it on the front page of DU :)

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

33. K&R!!!!!!!!!! Bookmarked, too!

[elleng]

35. Exciting!

[MoreGOPoop]

36. Kick!

Gotta watch those cheating sons o' boogers.

[LisaL]

42. Where are these ballots?

They can only count them if they find them.

[Coyotl]

44. Don't worry, a Bush staffer will be on the case in the morning.

[trublu992]

43. This makes me nervous

[DallasNE]

46. Could It Be That 3,000 People Requested

Absentee ballots and failed to mail them in? And what about provisional ballots as I doubt all of them have been resolved as yet. And this is the problem with the now complicated election law -- it takes a battery of lawyers to sort through things. At this point I think it is too early to draw any conclusions but smart to get on top of things just in case -- trust but verify.

[Tx4obama]

48. See below

-snip-

The State Board of Election’s site shows absentee ballots cast in each county broken down by congressional district. Fairfax County includes portions of three districts: Connolly’s 11th, Rep, Frank R. Wolf’s (R) 10th and Rep. James P. Moran Jr.’s (D) 8th.

According to state numbers, Fairfax reported an unexplainably lower number of absentee ballots cast in the 8th District than in the other two congressional districts.

The county keeps track of how many voters request absentee ballots as well as the number who actually turn them in. In the 10th District, 88 percent of voters who requested a ballot actually voted, while 86 percent did so in the 11th District.

But in the 8th District, the state board shows that only 50 percent of those who requested ballots — 4,168 out of 8,363 requests — actually cast ballots, a response rate not only lower than the other portions of Fairfax County, but lower than any other congressional district in the state, according to the Connolly campaign.

-snip-

Full article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/possible-discrepancy-in-fairfax-absentee-votes-could-affect-count-in-ag-race/2013/11/07/65108ad0-4825-11e3-bf0c-cebf37c6f484_story.html

Article is also posted in DU LBN, here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014642602

[DallasNE]

51. Thanks, I Saw The WP Article After I Posted

The rate in CD-8 is only about half of other Fairfax districts so something does look amiss but as of yet it has the appearance of a clerical error of some kind. We now need to follow the custody of these ballots. There should be a paper trail with signatures affixed and locks attached. It is too many for a single bag -- probably more like 4-5 bags. Let's see what they find before claiming foul-play but it is great that somebody is on top of this now with national exposure. Obviously if this flips the election the other side will cry foul.

[Tx4obama]

52. See Comment #50

[blkmusclmachine]

49. Let me guess...We find the Democratic ballots trashed in a dumpster behind the 7-11.

Surprise, surprise...

[Tx4obama]

50. UPDATE

Brad Friedman ?@TheBradBlog

1000s of votes now apparently 'missing' in #VAAG race, tabulated on op-scanners w/ history of dropping votes: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10361

https://twitter.com/TheBradBlog/status/398707726244536321

-snip-

Inexplicably low absentee results in parts of Fairfax County, which uses paper ballot op-scan systems with history of dropping votes...

-snip-

Full article here: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10361

[Coyotl]

74. The Bradblog article: = a great synopis and new information

I alerted Brad as this issue developed yesterday. He now has a great synopis and new information online in his blog:

BREAKING: Thousands of Votes Discovered 'Unaccounted For' in Virginia AG Race
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10361

...........

Within the last few hours, an unexplained discrepancy has been discovered by those combing over the reported numbers in Fairfax County. The county leans heavily Democratic and, unlike much of the rest of the state which uses 100% unverifiable touch-screen, Fairfax uses optically-scanned paper ballots for its main vote tabulation system.

.... thanks to some smart detective work by both a Democratic political team in Fairfax County and by Dave Wasserman of the non-partisan Cook Political Report, the fortunes for the Democrat candidate Herring may just have taken a big turn, even as a new mystery is added to the equation...

'Missing' Votes .....

[Firebrand Gary]

53. K&R

[Tx4obama]

54. Breaking UPDATE

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict

Breaking: Fairfax Co. voter registrar Cameron Quinn concedes in email (I just obtained) that #VA08 absentee totals are "in error."

https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/398717157745246208

MORE - A total of SEVEN tweets regarding the email message from voter registrar Cameron Quinn in Wasserman's feed HERE: https://twitter.com/Redistrict

[pinboy3niner]

55. Here's a short video of Quinn explaining Electoral Board canvassing in 2011

She is the General Registrar for Fairfax County (Schoeneman referred in one tweet to having spoken with the "GR" about the present discrepancy).

Thanks for the update. I thought Wasserman had gone to bed already--it's nearly 3am there!

[Tx4obama]

56. Sounds like they need to update how they do things since 'they' weren't the ones that caught...

... the error.

If numbers look too low then they should be flagged at the beginning of the canvas.

[Tx4obama]

57. Check out Wasserman's updated spread sheet !!!

Here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvOrrxBeaarVdGhvNWZZN2UzUVY1bDVoYW83bWszM1E#gid=0

[pinboy3niner]

61. WOW--net Herring +1535, which would put him ahead by 758!

I can live with that.

[Tx4obama]

67. Yeah, pretty awesome!

Goodnight

[pinboy3niner]

69. Goodnight, Tx

I'm going to turn in too.

[LisaL]

70. Don't they have to find these ballots first?

[pinboy3niner]

71. The ballots aren't missing as far as we know, some just weren't counted by the scanners

Bradblog thinks the op scanners just "dropped" some of the votes that were scanned, failing to include them in the tallies.

What we're talking about here is--for now--just Wasserman's projection of how including the missing votes would affect the count if he's right about the discrepancy. The actual numbers will depend on how the county elections board resolves this.

[JudyM]

75. that's fabulous. this is why we need paper trails. optical scanners offer that. nt

[questionseverything]

102. the optical scanners are the problem

dropping ballots is more a built in feature than a glitch

from bradblog...

Crnich also deserves a big thank you, along with Trachtenberg, from the voters of Eureka Precinct 1E-45 because if not for the project and Trachtenberg's software their votes in the recent general election would not have been counted. The Times-Standard explains:

The first of its kind Humboldt Election Transparency Project has uncovered a glitch in the county election's software that resulted in almost 200 ballots not being counted and the county certifying inaccurate election results.

And this "glitch" in the Diebold/Premier GEMS central tabulator software has been known to the company since 2004, or so Crnich learned after exchanging several calls with the vendor...



The paper goes on to report:

Shortly after the election was officially certified Monday, Crnich said she got an e-mail from Trachtenberg saying something was amiss.

”(Eureka's) Precinct 1E-45 seemed out of kilter,” she said. “The count just wasn't adding up.”

After double checking all of the precinct's logs and ballots, Crnich said she discovered a deck of 197 vote-by-mail ballots for the precinct that had been run through the ballot counting optical scanner, but did not seem to appear in the final vote tallies.

After exchanging several calls with Premier Elections Solutions, Crnich said she was told that the software begins counting decks of ballots at zero, and that sometimes when a deck is deleted from the machine due to normal complications, the software also deletes the Deck Zero, which in this case was the vote-by-mail ballots from Precinct 1E-45.
////////////////////////////////////////////////


what we need is paper ballots and some reliable 4th graders to count them in public,cameras rolling

[seabeyond]

103. i am not all into conspiracy theory, but i think it would be easy enough to figure out if these

machines that are known to drop votes are pretty much exclusively in heavy dem. if they are equally, or close to being in both heavy dem and repug, then i do not have an issue. if they are almost all or all in heavy dems, then there is a problem

oh... not that i do not have a problem with the machines. i do. i want paper. i like oregons set up. but, this would be something beyond reforming voting.

[questionseverything]

104. no ct..we have known since 04 these scanners drop votes

if they drop d votes it is wrong,if they drop r votes it is wrong

oregon uses same scanners so nothing is guaranteed there either and remember this "glitch" was only discovered because virginia has fairly small vote reporting units.....when tons of voters are forced into huge voting reporting units (as in colorado's recalls were) these "glitches" are nearly impossible to discover

[seabeyond]

106. are these type machines equally dispersed in heave repug areas, is what i am saying? nt

[questionseverything]

109. yes the same non working,non counting

glitch ridden machines count both dem votes and repub votes...so that makes it alright?

but mathematician richard charnin has done extensive work that shows 90 times out of 100 it is the repubs that benefit from the glitches

[seabeyond]

110. i know back in 2004 and later elections also, in texas, the machines would kick vote to bush.

even when kerry was repeatedly marked.

i just think it would be an easy thing to put machines you know drops votes in fairfax adn give heavy repug stronghold other machines. but, i really stopped following this when they allowed kerry to have so many votes stolen and the whole nation did not stand up outraged.

[Coyotl]

107. This is one hypothesis. Trying to steal the election could easily be another. We need facts.

Let's not rush to characterize the situation so definitively when there are no facts to back it up. The "machines" is as valid a possibility as is the election workers. Maybe someone decided not to run all the ballots in the heaviest Dem-rich area of the state knowing what the effect would be. Or, maybe it is the machine and the Dem-rich aspect is just a coincidence.

[questionseverything]

112. the dropping of ballot batches is a documented fact(since 04)

i agree we do not know if this machine accidentally dropped votes or if some election insider decided not to run votes but the solution is the same...transparency

we can never supervise our vote counting process inside a machine,never..this is why the german court outlawed electronic vote counting

citizens need to be able to oversee entire process for elections to be free,fair and accurate

btw look at district 86,the boysko-rust race

the dem lost precincts 203,319,321,327,909,927 and 931 in fairfax county...all of those precincts were blue wins in the state wide races by 55-65%

boysko would have to sue in court to get a hand count but i believe she would be able to reverse the lose

[Warren DeMontague]

58. How long is a recount expected to take?

[Tx4obama]

59. The loser of the race will first have to request one after the canvassing is finished. n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

60. So they'll declare an official winner even if the margin is less than, say, 1000 votes.

Interesting. I know some states a recount would be automatic.

[Tx4obama]

63. See Comment #62

[pinboy3niner]

64. A recount may be requested after the SBE meets and certifies results November 25

What they're doing now is not a recount, it's correcting errors in their results.

And provisional voters still have until noon Friday to get their documentation in so their ballots can be counted.

[Warren DeMontague]

65. Thanks for the info, folks

[pinboy3niner]

68. I once lived in Fairfax County for 16 years but I never saw an election quite like this

This race isn't the biggest one this year, but it's definitely the most exciting.

[onenote]

95. The AG race in 2005

Bob McDonnell v. Creigh Deeds. The initial count had McDonnell ahead by 323 votes. After a recount, both candidates picked up votes, with McDonnell ending up with a 360 vote margin over Deeds. This election, of course, paved the way for McDonnell to subsequently run for Governor. By the way, the recount in that election wasn't over until December 22.

[Tx4obama]

62. See below regarding recount petition

-snip-

For all offices other than that of president, the recount petition must be filed within ten days after the appropriate board certifies the result of the election.

http://www.ceimn.org/ceimn-state-recount-laws-searchable-database/states/Virginia

p.s. The link above is a hyper-link in this article: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10361

[Warren DeMontague]

66. ***

[pinboy3niner]

72. UPDATE:

Last edited Fri Nov 8, 2013, 05:39 AM - Edit history (1)

Wasserman quotes a msg from the Fairfax Co. General Registrar...

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 1h

More Quinn: "Office was virtually empty when this was figured out tonight...It is likely to take 2-3 hours to go through things" in AM

Here's more via Bradblog:

UPDATE: Just after publishing this story, Wasserman tweeted a few more times, with information from the Fairfax County Registrar that seems as if it could dovetail with the section of this report above about concerns with the tabulators. Here's what he tweeted [emphasis added]: "Breaking: Fairfax Co. voter registrar Cameron Quinn concedes in email (I just obtained) that #VA08 absentee totals are 'in error. ... given that on 11/4/13 there were 2014 [Absentee Ballots] returned by mail & 5113 by in person, it appears the problem is the in-person numbers are incomplete, but this is pure speculation on my part. ... I suspect there are machine totals that either didn't print tapes, or didn't show full tallies on the tapes. ... I expect that the Electoral Board will make figuring out what happened the first order of business in the morning.'"

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10361

[annabanana]

77. So, the cooch is on it, right?

Am I wrong, or isn't it HIS job to get to the bottom of this?

Gawd, I hope I'm wrong . . .

[Chan790]

87. No, it's not Cooch's job.

VA has a bipartisan State Board of Elections (usually abbreviated to SBE) that is responsible for all matters electoral in order to take it out of the direct influence of elected officials.

The State Board of Elections (SBE) was created in 1946 as a bipartisan agency responsible for ensuring uniformity, fairness, accuracy and purity in all elections in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The agency promotes the proper administration of election laws, campaign finance disclosure compliance, and voter registration processes in Virginia by promulgating rules, regulations, issuing instructions, and providing information to local electoral boards and general registrars. In addition, the agency maintains a centralized database of state-wide voter registration and election related data.

http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/

[Coyotl]

76. Last year Fairfax certified results where 500 votes were missing from @timkaine

Ben Tribbett ?@notlarrysabato 5h ago
Last year Fairfax certified results where 500 votes were missing from @timkaine in a precinct, I had to tell them so it would be corrected.

https://twitter.com/notlarrysabato

[Oilwellian]

78. Bump bump di bump for morning watch

Should be an interesting day for VA voters. I would love to see Mr. report your miscarriages to the nearest law enforcer within 24 hours or you're under arrest creepoid go down. The only way they can win now is if they cheat.

[Coyotl]

80. There might be some winners if they don't get caught for cheating too!

This really smells of last-minute malfeasance to throw the result, perhaps even with sufficient margin to avert a recount. It has the usual characteristic of election theft, steal from the area with the most Dems. Also, it may have happened with the last ballots counted, the absentees, after the precincts have reported and the state of the race was becoming clear. I'm not buying into the machine just dropped a number theory until it has some supporting evidence. Occam's razor would indicate an attempt to steal the election. And, a clever one at that which won't be easy to pin on anyone. So the real winner(s) might be the culprit(s) in the Fairfax County Elections Office who gets away without indictment.

[seabeyond]

83. i think so, also. nt

[Oilwellian]

113. It sure does make one wonder

how much of this fraud is occurring nationwide. I also think they manipulated votes in the VA governor's race. I was watching the local news when the returns started coming in, Sabato was being interviewed, and he said exit polls indicate McAuliff will win by seven points. Odd that it wound up being only two.

[Coyotl]

118. Coincidence? What other county offers this possibility? = 1 in 200 probability of this coincidence.

Loudoun, Virginia Beach, and Prince William are majority R and smaller.
Arlington County has one absentee precinct, Central Absentee CD: 08, with results: 1,338 R 5,885 D of 7241 total, for 81% D.

Fairfax County has three absentee precincts (3 Congressional districts) with results (so far reported):

##Central Absentee CD: 08 1,101 3,067 of 4,172 = 73.5% D
##Central Absentee CD: 10 2,957 3,825 of 6,795 = 56.3% D
##Central Absentee CD: 11 3,843 7 660 of 11,517 = 66.5% D

There are 133 Counties so the odds this happens in Fairfax County is 1 : 133. Include Arlington and the odds of this happening in a county where this many Dem votes could be stolen is 2 : 133. Factor in the fact that there are three precincts in Fairfax and this happens to the one with the highest Dem vote percent is another 1 : 3 probability. Multiply the probabilities this is coincidence, the result is 1 : 200 probability this is a coincidence.

[Coyotl]

79. Republicans have responded = scrambling to get more Republican provisional votes by noon today.

Ironic thing about this situation, it was Cuccinelli who purged 38,000 voters.
Many of the purged voters, likely Dems, would have had to votew provisional.
And they have to go to the courthouse before noon with their documents to get their votes counted.

Via Twitter ?@Cuccinelli4Gov

VA Conservative ?@Cuccinelli4Gov 12h ago
Spread this to every REPUBLICAN you know in VA..... ASAP!

[randome]

81. The irony you mention was obviously coming from the start.

When Republicans start to realize they have disenfranchised themselves, the voting restrictions will magically disappear.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[bluestate10]

85. This is fucking sad and could have been avoided if more Democrats had gotten off the

asses and voted on Tuesday. This is what happens when "purist" or "rebels" vote third party or just sit at home because the Democrat isn't good enough for them.

I hope the Democrat in the Virginia AG race pulls ahead. But you know what? I won't worry one second if he doesn't. It is up to the purists in Virginia who had a vote and didn't fucking take it to deal with the republican asshole if he prevails. I live in another state.

[winter is coming]

88. "Seven Corners Surprise"

Should be an interesting day in Fairfax county.

[Coyotl]

91. The Bailey's Vote Circus

Brian Pace ?@Pacen8r 22m
@Redistrict Still think this should be The Bailey's Vote Circus. Precinct called that as the circus used to winter there. True story!

[winter is coming]

93. I never knew that's why they called it Bailey's Crossroads. n/t

[WorseBeforeBetter]

130. Whut?! I figured it was named after family who owned...

a lot of farmland, then sold it off to developers. Damn, I miss that area. My old Sport & Health, the Salvadoran restaurant with the killer ceviche, the Burlington Coat Factory...

[Coyotl]

90. Dave Wasserman is awake - new hashtags = #7CornersSurprise #VA08

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 5m ago
Source tells me Fairfax elex officials convening in canvass room now to review #VA08 votes after last night's revelations. #7CornersSurprise
https://twitter.com/Redistrict

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict

There were 8,283 Absentee requests in Fairfax #VA08 precincts, but 4,168 votes counted. If it had the same return rate (88.4%) as nearby...
There would be 7,421 votes cast, or 3,253 more than counted. If those 3,253 are same %s as rest, Herring adds 2,394 & Obenshain 859.
Bottom line: approx ~3k missing ballots from "Seven Corners Surprise" likely to push Herring (D) into #VAAG lead when counted

[mercuryblues]

97. I told my

spouse there is no way that VA elected a Governor and Asst Gov by respectable margins and the AG race was to close to call, in a dead heat. There is something funky going on.

[Coyotl]

98. Hot debate to name FFX #VA08 bombshell. Any good ideas?

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 11m ago

Hot debate to name FFX #VA08 bombshell. Ideas so far: "7 Corners Surprise," "Merrifield Miracle" or @samshirazim's "Bailey's Bailout"

This won't stick, but if it is a machine problem: "Diebold Debacle"

If the Republicans come up one provisional ballot short: "Cuccinelli's Irony"

If someone gets indicted for election irregularities: "Tea Party Tyranny"

Jon Kimball ?@jonkimball
Also, #VAAG is the most offensive looking election hashtag I've ever seen.

[Coyotl]

108. O.K.. Fairfax Foulup"? .. apparently a big tally screw-up by Fairfax County. I'd say "Fairfax F-up."

roadkillrefugee ?@rkref 29m
@Redistrict all those names imply Herring got lucky, when it is apparently a big tally screw-up by Fairfax County. I'd say "Fairfax F-up."

[Coyotl]

101. Attorney general cliffhanger puts VA provisional ballots to test Friday

Attorney general cliffhanger puts VA provisional ballots to test Friday
http://watchdog.org/115017/virginia-election-results/
By Kenric Ward | Watchdog.org Virginia Bureau

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Amid wild rumors, frantic fundraising and legal maneuvering, Virginia’s attorney general election hangs in the balance. Shades of Florida 2000?

As of Thursday afternoon, Republican Mark Obenshain held a 681 vote lead over Democrat Mark Herring, out of 2.2 million ballots cast.

But more ballots are still out there. Thousands of provisional votes — 492 in Fairfax County alone — have yet to be counted.

Both parties are gearing up for a county-by-county fight to include or exclude those ballots, which were cast by people who didn’t present legally permissible identification at the polls.

All these battles come before the inevitable statewide recount. Virginia election results are due to be finalized Nov. 25.

Voters have until Friday to bring a copy of their ID to their local electoral board and explain why they voted provisionally.

.........

[Cognitive_Resonance]

105. k&r nt

[Coyotl]

111. Are there 500 uncounted votes in Republican Bedford County?

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict = 4 new tweets:

New plot twist? Source tells me there may be up to 500 uncounted votes in Bedford County (74.96% Obenshain). #VAAG
It probably isn't Bedford's absentees. 915 have been counted so far, up from 798 in '09. In line with nearby Campbell (466, up from 401).
@Taniel To be clear, we don't have hard evidence yet there are missing Bedford votes. Just anecdotal reports from two sources.
Also, Bedford County was re-precincted since last year & consolidated w/ Bedford City. So it's tough to compare precinct data w/ '09.

[tblue]

114. I bet votes were stolen from Terry McA too.

No way did Cucinelli get that close.

Who here doubted the Reps would cheat every which way possible?

[Coyotl]

115. In March '13, Fairfax Co. realized it had failed to tally 461 Kaine '12 votes.

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 1h ago
In March '13, Fairfax Co. realized it had failed to tally 461 Kaine '12 votes. Big mistakes common, but don't surface unless race is close.

[pinboy3niner]

116. Bedford County +432 for Obenshain

Ben Tribbett ?@notlarrysabato 13m

Bedford County +432 for Obenshain. #bedfordblast This puts Obenshain up just over 1,000 before the #7CornersSurprise is counted.

Retweeted by Dave Wasserman

https://twitter.com/Redistrict

[Coyotl]

120. This could come down to provisional votes deciding the race. Too late now to get those validated.

And the judging/counting of all provisionals can now begin. The deadline to present proof of identity, etc. at Election Board was noon today.

[Kingofalldems]

119. Ooh, the concerned ones won't like this at all.

[Kingofalldems]

121. So I wonder how many votes for McAuliffe were 'lost'.

[allan01]

122. re:#VAAG Race - Multiple Dem sources - "smoking gun" something is up Fairfax Co = 3,000 missing vote

busted. they *(da repubs ) keep doin this stuff and they keep getting caught .

[Coyotl]

123. WJLA ABC 7 report = VIDEO - Fairfax Co. reviews low number of absentee ballots

Less than 3,000 votes uncounted at this time, apparently only 1,700 to count. This is going to be a close one. Dems will net 800 votes and need another 200 votes more from provisionals to overcome the R lead.

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/11/fairfax-co-reviews-low-number-of-absentee-ballots-96618.html

Fairfax Co. reviews low number of absentee ballots

FAIRFAX, Va. (WJLA) - The Fairfax County Electoral Board is looking at why one district has an unusually low number of absentee ballots. The ballots are crucial in the Attorney General's race.

The Fairfax Electoral Board secretary says the board is aware of the problem and so a group of election officials is sitting down with a representative from each party to go over all of the absentee ballots Friday.

Congressman Gerry Connolly's office Wednesday discovered the possible discrepancy and brought it to the attention of the electoral board Thursday night. According to election officials, about 7,200 people in the 8th congressional district voted absentee either by mail or in person before election day. However, on election night only about 5,500 absentee votes were recorded ....

[Coyotl]

124. VA Elections Website updated - Obenshain leads by 1,272.

I calculate an 800 vote rebound from Fairfax Co absentee votes for Herring, more if the deletions were nefarious.
So, will there be enough Dem bias in the provisional votes? Either way, this is heading for a recount.

[StevieM]

125. Actually, it may be more like 1500. Herring won the absentee votes in the 8th District that have

already been counted by 50 points (or at least that's what I heard). If there are 3000 votes missing, then that means that he will pick up 1500 votes.

[pinboy3niner]

127. It's the 1535 net gain projected for Herring there less Obenshain's lead

But Obenshain picks up several hundred additional votes net from another error adjustment, reducing Herring's projected lead to around 300-400. With the provisional votes being added into the mix, this is all very rough.

[Coyotl]

131. Latest report has 1,700 uncounted Fairfax absentee ballots in precinct splitting 3:1 Dem voters.

That's a net gain of only about 850 by my calculations, 1,275 less 425.

[questionseverything]

126. have you looked at the change log?

http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/ElectionResults.html

it is notepad form and about as clear as mud


lotta no data entered on election night

t","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.807000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.807000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," "," "," ","Member School Board","Gary P. Hostutler","153","2013-11-06 00:18:39.993000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.993000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.993000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," "," "," ","Member School Board","Jason W. Johnson","114","2013-11-06 00:18:39.947000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.947000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.947000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," "," "," ","Member School Board","John H. Hicks, Jr.","187","2013-11-06 00:18:39.963000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.963000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.963000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," "," "," ","Member School Board","WriteIn","0","2013-11-06 00:18:39.947000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.963000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.963000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," "," "," ","Member School Board","WriteIn","1","2013-11-06 00:18:39.977000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.977000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.977000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," "," "," ","Member School Board","WriteIn","1","2013-11-06 00:18:40.010000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:40.023000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:40.023000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","40","Overvotes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," "," "," ","Member Board of Supervisors"," ","0","2013-11-06 00:18:39.853000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.853000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.853000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","40","Overvotes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," "," "," ","Member Board of Supervisors"," ","0","2013-11-06 00:18:39.900000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.900000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.900000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","40","Overvotes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," "," "," ","Member Board of Supervisors"," ","0","2013-11-06 00:18:39.930000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.947000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.947000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","40","Overvotes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," "," "," ","Member House of Delegates"," ","0","2013-11-06 00:18:39.727000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.727000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.727000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","40","Overvotes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," "," "," ","Member House of Delegates"," ","0","2013-11-06 00:18:39.773000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.773000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.773000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","40","Overvotes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," "," "," ","Member House of Delegates"," ","0","2013-11-06 00:18:39.807000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.820000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.820000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","40","Overvotes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," "," "," ","Member School Board"," ","0","2013-11-06 00:18:39.963000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.963000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.963000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","40","Overvotes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," "," "," ","Member School Board"," ","0","2013-11-06 00:18:39.977000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.977000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.977000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","40","Overvotes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," "," "," ","Member School Board"," ","0","2013-11-06 00:18:40.023000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:40.023000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:40.023000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","05","05","Attorney General","Mark D. Obenshain","362","2013-11-06 00:18:39.587000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.587000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.587000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","05","05","Attorney General","Mark R. Herring","153","2013-11-06 00:18:39.573000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.573000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.573000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","05","05","Attorney General","WriteIn","0","2013-11-06 00:18:39.603000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.603000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.603000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","05","05","Governor","Ken T. Cuccinelli II","304","2013-11-06 00:18:39.290000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.290000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.290000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","05","05","Governor","Robert C. Sarvis","38","2013-11-06 00:18:39.307000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.307000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.307000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","05","05","Governor","Terry R. McAuliffe","162","2013-11-06 00:18:39.277000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.277000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.277000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","05","05","Governor","WriteIn","9","2013-11-06 00:18:39.323000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.323000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.323000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","05","05","Lieutenant Governor","E. W. Jackson","316","2013-11-06 00:18:39.447000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.447000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.447000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","05","05","Lieutenant Governor","Ralph S. Northam","196","2013-11-06 00:18:39.430000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.430000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.430000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","05","05","Lieutenant Governor","WriteIn","1","2013-11-06 00:18:39.463000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.463000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.463000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","40","Overvotes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","05","05","Attorney General"," ","0","2013-11-06 00:18:39.620000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.620000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.620000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","40","Overvotes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","05","05","Governor"," ","0","2013-11-06 00:18:39.353000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.353000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.353000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","40","Overvotes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","05","05","Lieutenant Governor"," ","0","2013-11-06 00:18:39.480000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.480000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.480000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","06","06","Attorney General","Mark D. Obenshain","293","2013-11-06 00:18:39.650000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.650000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.650000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","06","06","Attorney General","Mark R. Herring","117","2013-11-06 00:18:39.633000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.633000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.633000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","06","06","Attorney General","WriteIn","0","2013-11-06 00:18:39.667000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.667000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.667000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","06","06","Governor","Ken T. Cuccinelli II","264","2013-11-06 00:18:39.370000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.383000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.383000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","06","06","Governor","Robert C. Sarvis","26","2013-11-06 00:18:39.400000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.400000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.400000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","06","06","Governor","Terry R. McAuliffe","122","2013-11-06 00:18:39.370000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.370000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.370000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","06","06","Governor","WriteIn","0","2013-11-06 00:18:39.400000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.417000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.417000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","06","06","Lieutenant Governor","E. W. Jackson","256","2013-11-06 00:18:39.510000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.510000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.510000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","06","06","Lieutenant Governor","Ralph S. Northam","150","2013-11-06 00:18:39.493000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.493000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.493000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","06","06","Lieutenant Governor","WriteIn","1","2013-11-06 00:18:39.540000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.540000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.540000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","40","Overvotes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","06","06","Attorney General"," ","0","2013-11-06 00:18:39.680000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.680000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.680000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","40","Overvotes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","06","06","Governor"," ","0","2013-11-06 00:18:39.417000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.430000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.430000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","40","Overvotes","019","BEDFORD COUNTY","AB - Central Absentee Precinct"," "," ","06","06","Lieutenant Governor"," ","0","2013-11-06 00:18:39.557000000","","No data entered on election night","","2013-11-06 00:18:39.557000000","bgunter","2013-11-06 00:18:39.557000000","bgunter"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","023","BOTETOURT COUNTY"," ","0302","302 - MILL CREEK"," "," ","Member Board of Supervisors","John B. Williamson III","186","2013-11-05 20:30:02.910000000","2013-11-06 12:05:55.437000000","","","2013-11-05 20:30:02.910000000","dmiller","2013-11-06 12:05:55.437000000","dmiller"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","023","BOTETOURT COUNTY"," ","0302","302 - MILL CREEK"," "," ","Member Board of Supervisors","John B. Williamson III","530","2013-11-06 12:05:55.483000000","","Reported wrong from precinct","Chief reported from one unit close report instead of location close report.","2013-11-06 12:05:55.483000000","dmiller","2013-11-06 12:05:55.483000000","dmiller"
"2013 November General","10","Certified Votes","023","BOTETOURT COUNTY"," ","0302","302 - MILL CREEK"," "," ","Member Board of Supervisors","WriteIn","0","2013-11-05 20:30:02.927000000","2013-11-06 12:05:55.500000000","","","2013-

[StrayKat]

128. Just Checked it.

It came up in an Excel spreadsheet. If you don't have Excel, maybe you can import it into another spreadsheet using comma delimitation.

[Coyotl]

132. Fairfax County - Electoral Board will meet at 10 am Sat. to review 8th District absentee votes.

Last edited Sat Nov 9, 2013, 12:55 AM - Edit history (1)

Fairfax County ?@fairfaxcounty 20m ago
RT @fairfaxvotes: Electoral Board will meet at 10 am Saturday to review 8th Congressional District absentee votes #VAAG

Ryan Nobles ?@ryanobles 33m
Great chat w/@Redistrict re: #VAAG race- among the many interesting takeaways? The canvas is far more important than recount.

NBC12 WWBT Richmond ?@NBC12 48m
RT @ryanobles: Sen. @timkaine sends out e-mail blast looking for donations to aid @SenMarkHerring's impending recount in the #VAAG race.

[Coyotl]

133. Wasserman: "the #7CornersSurprise could still be enough to overtake Obenshain's 1,272 vote lead"

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 36 seconds ago

@posglen No idea. I think the #7CornersSurprise could still be enough to overtake Obenshain's 1,272 vote lead post-#BedfordBlast

[Coyotl]

134. WA POST has an undated article = "only" 1,951 votes in Fairfax Co. uncounted.

This means Herring should gain about 975 votes,making the race a virtual toss-up until the provisional votes are tallied.
Given Cuccinelli purged 38,000 voters and other factors, I expect a significant Dem bias in provisional voting.

Currently, the State reports a deficit of 1,272 votes for Herring, so a 300 vote deficit is expected after Fairfax counts the absentees.
http://electionresults.virginia.gov/resultsCTY.aspx?type=SWR&rid=169&osn=6&map=CTY

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/nearly-2000-votes-in-fairfax-possibly-uncounted/2013/11/08/d1c163f4-48aa-11e3-b6f8-3782ff6cb769_story.html

Nearly 2,000 votes in Fairfax possibly uncounted
By Antonio Olivo and Ben Pershing, Updated: Friday, November 8, 11:58 AM

Fairfax County election officials said Friday that they think that nearly 2,000 votes went uncounted after Tuesday’s election, a technical error that could affect the outcome of the still unresolved race for Virginia attorney general.

The error stemmed from problems with a broken machine at the county’s Mason district voting center, officials said.

The machine, known as an optical scanner, recorded 723 votes on election night before it broke down, elections officials said. Its memory card was then placed inside another, working machine, which recorded a total of 2,688 votes.

But that tally was not included in the statement of election results delivered by the individual voting center to the county board of elections. Instead, officials received the statement that reported the 723 votes from the broken machine.

The county’s board of elections believes that the larger total includes the original 723 votes, which could mean adding an extra 1,951 to the total outcome, said Seth T. Stark, chairman of the three-member electoral board. .............

[Coyotl]

135. Wasserman: "Don't think it's possible for it to only be 1,900 votes" = very severe undervote #FFXFUP

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 18m ago
@posglen Don't think it's possible for it to only be 1,900 votes. That would still be a very severe undervote.

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 17m
Folks, I've been neck deep in MS Excel for 3+ days & I'm ready to make a projection. The next Virginia AG will be... Mark.

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 16m
@posglen It doesn't add up. Fairfax's absentee numbers have consistently not added up since Election Night.

[Tx4obama]

137. New Wasserman tweet

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict

Here's why: sources w/ knowledge of absentee file from 11/5 AM show 7,124 *cast* absentees in #VA08. That means at least 2,956 are missing.

https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/398936591780962305

[colsohlibgal]

136. US Voting Is A Haphazard Joke For A Supposed Democracy

You won't hear anything about it in the mainstream but there was more dirty about the 2000 Bush/Gore Florida debacle than hanging chads and the Supreme Court Coup.

Bush's relative working for Fox News would not have been able to jump the gun calling it for Dubya without some bizarre vote counts, one being a jurisdiction which had Gore's vote count there at -16,000. That's a nice trick.

We need to get real about voting all parties can believe in, and computers can play no part in that, nor can sloppy vote custody practices. If we had had those in 2000 we would have had no Dubya near the WH. Imagine how many more men and women would have stayed alive and whole.

[Tx4obama]

138. Projected by Wasserman that Herring is now only 130 votes behind

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvOrrxBeaarVdGhvNWZZN2UzUVY1bDVoYW83bWszM1E#gid=0

[spooky3]

139. The Dems are ON this--here's an email from Arl. Co. Dems

This arrived late Thursday.

"Arlington Democrats,

The Mark Herring campaign needs your help! As of the current count, our Attorney General candidate, Mark Herring, trails his opponent, Mark Obenshain, by less than 800 votes. But there are still thousands of provisional ballots outstanding. We need callers first thing tomorrow (Friday) morning and throughout the day to help make calls to track down provisional voters and otherwise help track information for the recount. Can you spare an hour? If so, click here to email Matt Weinstein and Travis Zollner, our statewide voter protection coordinators, and they will get you a shift and instructions.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Mike Lieberman
Chair, Arlington County Democratic Committee "

Arl. abuts Fairfax County and Jim Moran represents areas in both counties. It was reported earlier that a big undercount occurred in Moran's FFX Co. area. On an electoral map, that are appeared to be one of the slightly less blue parts of FFX, but I could be wrong about that. My guess is that it is about 55% blue (versus ~68% for Arlington).

[Coyotl]

140. Good news / Bad news = there were indeed 3,008 uncounted votes / he only won 68.8%

Last edited Sat Nov 9, 2013, 12:56 PM - Edit history (2)

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 3h
Good news for Herring (D): there were indeed 3,008 uncounted votes. Bad: he only won 68.8% of them, not enough to overtake Obenshain's lead.

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 3h
At this pt, any slight canvass adjustment could change the lead. It's anyone's race - would say "send in the lawyers," but they've arrived.

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 3h
This just in: new confirmed totals for Fairfax #VA08 absentees 5,137 H-2,039 O. Brings total Obenshain lead to 140: ....

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 3h
However, if yet-to-be-counted provisionals align w/ '09's, that alone would net Herring (D) 122 votes. This thing could be single digits.

ON EDIT: Here are the results of the absentee tally with all the ballots:



5,137 - 2,039 = 71.6 %
before
3,067 - 1,011 = 73.6 %
added
2,070 - 1,028 = 68.8 %

1,132 vote margin gained by Herring.

[questionseverything]

141. numbers moving everywhr

http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/webdocs/electionresultschangelogs/20131105.pdf

including backwards

[Coyotl]

143. Politico: Virginia Attorney General: ‘Anyone’s race’

Virginia Attorney General: ‘Anyone’s race’

Both Obenshain's and Herring's camps have said they believe they’ll pull ahead.

By ELIZABETH TITUS - 11/8/13 9:53 PM EST - http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/virginia-attorney-general-2013-elections-mark-obenshain-mark-herring-99615.html

The Virginia attorney general race remained a nail-biter heading into the weekend, as a rapt band of election officials and observers pored over updates to Election Day numbers.

Local authorities have until Nov. 12 to correct, complete and turn in their tallies to the state in the contest between state Sens. Mark Obenshain (R) and Mark Herring (D), which was too close to call on Tuesday as Democrats won the other two statewide offices on the ballot.

Obenshain has held a lead, but it likely narrowed Friday after developments in blue-leaning Fairfax County, where Herring appeared to net about 1,100 votes after previously uncounted ballots were reviewed, according to observers. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said his political office had noticed that the absentee ballot return rate in the part of the county covered by the 8th Congressional District seemed too low, helping prompt a review.

...... The Fairfax County elections board said it would discuss its probe of 8th District results at a public meeting Saturday at 10 a.m.

................

[Coyotl]

145. Brad Friedman: Tallying VA's 'Missing' Op-Scan Votes; And Other Surprises ....

Finally, some details of exactly what happened in the election offices is beginning to emerge.

Don't blame the machines when humans fail to report the tally!

BRADBLOG: Tallying VA's 'Missing' Op-Scan Votes; And Other Surprises in the Incredibly Close VA AG Election
Diebold paper ballot optical-scan tabulator behind recently discovered 'unaccounted for' votes in Fairfax County
But there was yet another unexpected computer tally twist on Friday...
By Brad Friedman on 11/8/2013, 9:07pm PT - http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10362

.... Here is the statement offered by the Fairfax County Electoral Board late today ....

.... the board met in an open meeting with the Election Office staff who are working the canvass, representatives of the Republican and Democratic parties, representatives of the Herring and Obenshain campaigns and the general public.

During that meeting, the discussion revolved around two optical scan machine tape records, one that had been included in the results, and one that had not been included in the results. ....

..... Here's how Antonio Olivo and Ben Pershing of Washington Post explain the problem that was discovered ....

The error stemmed from problems with a broken machine at the county’s Mason district voting center, officials said.

The machine, known as an optical scanner, recorded 723 votes on election night before it broke down, elections officials said. Its memory card was then placed inside another, working machine, which recorded a total of 2,688 votes.

But that tally was not included in the statement of election results delivered by the individual voting center to the county board of elections. ..........

.......... In fact, there were about 3,000 uncounted votes, as Wasserman surmised. Here are the rescanned numbers that Tribbett said he was later able to confirm: "Total Fairfax absentee for 8th CD is now Herring 5137 to Obenshain 2039." He added that the result was the Democratic candidate Herring "picks up 1,130 votes." ......

Now, to unpack Brad's detailed report a bit. Someone did not report over 3,000 votes. To say they were not counted is false. To blame the machines is a convenient excuse proffered after the failure to report 3,000 votes was detected by attentive sleuthing.

The investigation, and there should certainly be a law enforcement involvement at this point, can now focus on the county’s Mason district voting center. One issue that should be addressed is ballot security during the period between the first counting of the ballots and any rescanning. For some reason, the batch of latter votes reported, the 3,000+ votes, have different results than the ones initially reported, a drop in Democratic votes. Why is that? The first report had very near 75% Herring votes, the later batch reported 68.8% Herring. Statisticians can comment on how improbable this seems.

[winter is coming]

146. Most provisonals in rural areas have been counted. Things are looking promising for Herring.

Dave's latest tweet:

My guess: Barring more canvass changes, Herring (D) will take lead w/ TBD proviz from Fairfax, Alexandria, Richmond, Norfolk, etc.

[Coyotl]

147. The R lead is quickly evaporating thanks to blue provisional votes.

My prediction is coming true. Thanks Cuccinelli for purging 38,000 voters!

UMW Dems ?@umwdems 6m ago
Update: with first batch of provisionals, the difference between Herring and Obenshain lead has fallen to 92 votes. #VAAG

Zeek ?@PhillyZeek 4m ago
Real good signs the blues sweep the three top seats in VA. Blue counties still being canvassed. 38 vote margin #fightbacknotcutback. #VAAG

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 11m ago
My guess: Barring more canvass changes, Herring (D) will take lead w/ TBD proviz from Fairfax, Alexandria, Richmond, Norfolk, etc. #VAAG

[Coyotl]

148. 4 of the 5 localities that gave Herring (D) his biggest margin have yet to report their provisionals

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 27s ago
4 of the 5 localities that gave Herring (D) his biggest margin have yet to report their provisionals. All 5 of Obenshain (R)'s already have.

https://twitter.com/Redistrict

UPDATES on edits:

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict
Obenshain's top 5 margins: 1) Hanover 2) Bedford 3) Rockingham 4) Chesterfield 5) Roanoke Co. Proviz done in all 5:

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict
In fact, all 10 of Obenshain's top margin counties have finished counting provisionals. Bad news for R's.
http://electionresults.virginia.gov/resultsCTY.aspx?type=SWR&rid=169&osn=6&map=CTY …

Wyeth Ruthven ?@wyethwire
Provisional ballots have yet to be counted in 56 localities #VAAG

NOTE: There are 133 counties, some with more than one provisional & absentee precincts (when more than one Congressional district per county).

[Coyotl]

149. New numbers from 8th CO absentees 5137 for Herring, 2039 for Obenshain.

Max Smith ?@amaxsmith 1m ago
Here are the new numbers from 8th CO absentees 5137 for Herring, 2039 for obenshain.

[Coyotl]

150. "hours away from certification of wrong results before they were forced to admit error"

Ben Tribbett ?@notlarrysabato 34s ago
@DanaHoule @DCCyclone @Redistrict We were literally hours away from certification of wrong results before they were forced to admit error.

[winter is coming]

162. I didn't think they certified results until Tuesday. n/t

[Coyotl]

177. Tuesday is the deadline for reporting official county results to the SBE.

Each County is taking intermediate steps with their own voting, including any certifying of tallies of precinct voting, absentee count, and provisional ballot admissions and counting.

[Kingofalldems]

151. Looks like Herring now in the lead and

Fairfax county tally to be announced at 2:00. Do I have it wrong?

[Coyotl]

154. Fairfax meeting begins at 2:00 pm ET and thereafter they count their provisionals.

Wyeth Ruthven ?@wyethwire 5m
Alexandria counting 78 provisionals now #VAAG

Alexandria is the bluest district in VA.

[Kingofalldems]

155. Nice.

[Coyotl]

156. NBC12 Decision Virginia Dave Wasserman on the AG race

[malaise]

157. Thanks for the updates Coyoti

[Coyotl]

158. What is going on in Richmond? Rumors, for one thing, lawyers for another.

Wyeth Ruthven ?@wyethwire 7m ago
SBE changing rules on counting provisionals while +400 ballots in Fairfax left to be counted and #VAAG statewide margin less than 100

Ben Tribbett ?@notlarrysabato 17m
There is something def. going on in richmond city though, state lawyers flocking there today.

Ben Tribbett ?@notlarrysabato 20m
Just heard from Obenshain campaign, they 100 percent deny any challenge to a voting machine, they have lawyers there.


ON EDIT:

Drilling down on this a bit, on Fri. the State Board of Elections (SBE) ruled voters must present in person to testify and cannot have legal counsel do so in their stead, as I understand it. There has been some confusion in this regard. Also, there is concern that the rules have been changed in the middle of a process, and may thereby be unfair to those impacted after the ruling. I don't see this ruling impacting the count of provisionals.

Ben Tribbett ?@notlarrysabato 12m ago
Fairfax electoral board votes 2-0 with 1 abstaining to condemn state board of elections ruling prohibiting legal rep for voters not here,

[Coyotl]

159. IMAGE: Voters lining up to ask their provisional ballot be counted in Fairfax.

Ben Tribbett ?@notlarrysabato 6m
The board also publicly thanked @redistrict and me for having found the #7cornerssurprise

Ben Tribbett ?@notlarrysabato 17m
Voters lining up to ask their provisional ballot be counted in fairfax. pic.twitter.com/pveP4taJja



Aaron Bentley ?@aaron_bentley 2m ago
New rule, if you're wondering, is provisional voters must show up in person for vote to be counted. No legal rep allowed. Outrageous #VAAG

Nell Lancaster ?@nlanc 2m
Race for #VAAG 82-vote margin for R Obenshain, with provisional ballots 2B counted in big D areas.

[Coyotl]

160. I'm going salmon fishing for the afternoon. Keep it alive and fresh folks.

[Tx4obama]

166. A suggestion for when you return from fishing...

It might be time for you to start up a new *** #VAAG Update *** thread - this one is taking a long time to load

[3catwoman3]

161. Fingers crossed...

... for a hat trick!!!

[winter is coming]

163. Fairfax provisionals not counted until Tuesday.

Brian W. Schoeneman ?@BrianSchoeneman 1h

Thus we don't expect to actually count provisionals until Tuesday. Everybody deserves to be heard if they choose.

and another tweet:

Ben Tribbett ?@notlarrysabato 10m

I've got Obenshain 1,103,390, Herring 1,103,362 now with Alexandria provisionals in.

[Kingofalldems]

164. Now 17 votes behind

Tweet from Berkely Man: Obenshain lead cut to 17 votes after Herring nets 25/Norfolk/29/Alexandria/11Richmon proviz.#vaag

[Tx4obama]

165. Latest UPDATE: 15 vote difference

Ben Tribbett ?@notlarrysabato

New update. Obenshain 1,103,417. Herring 1,103,402. 15 votes margin.

https://twitter.com/notlarrysabato/status/399304467746922496

[Coyotl]

167. 434 provisional votes from Fairfax counted Tues. = 15 vote R margin will reverse.

The next AG in Virginia will be a Democrat!

Brian W. Schoeneman ?@BrianSchoeneman 5h ago
Don't expect provisional vote totals from Fairfax until Tuesday. We are extending hours to give voters the chance to come in and present

Ben Tribbett ?@notlarrysabato 3h
New update. Obenshain 1,103,417. Herring 1,103,402. 15 votes margin.

Ken Feltman ?@KenFeltman 3h
Very unofficial #VAAG total pending 434 Fairfax provisionals to decide Tuesday: Obenshain 1,103,417. Herring 1,103,402. 15 votes margin.

[Coyotl]

176. Explanation of dispute on Fairfax County provisionals = 494 ballots in question

Last edited Sun Nov 10, 2013, 06:18 PM - Edit history (2)

An explanation of dispute on Fairfax County provisionals in AG race
Nov 10, 2013 at 04:23 AM PST - by teacherken
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/10/1254525/-An-explanation-of-dispute-on-Fairfax-County-provisionals-in-AG-race

Fairfax County Virginia has had a practice that allowed those casting provisional ballots on election day to sign documentation allowing party or candidate organizations to allow them to represent the voter when the provisional was being considered. The state election board decided that this was in violation of its rules, and in fact, since a similar procedure was not being followed in all 134 jurisdictions in the Commonwealth, represented unequal treatment of ballots (which would be a violation of Bush v Gore). Thus on Friday the County was ordered not to allow anyone except the person who cast the provisional to advocate on their behalf. They could be advised, but they had to appear, and to speak on their own behalf.

While the Fairfax Board disagreed with this decision (by a 2-0-1 vote), they decided they had to abide by the instructions.

Originally the deadline for appearing was supposed to be yesterday. The Fairfax election folks decided that under the circumstances voters needed more time to come in - not having known that they would have to appear personally (which some were already doing) it would be unfair to cut off that opportunity yesterday.

Thus the offices will be open this afternoon, all day tomorrow, and at least until 1 PM on Tuesday (or one hour after the election folks return from the Courthouse, whichever is later), to make their presentations. Tuesday has to be the cutoff because that is the day by which all jurisdictions must certify their results to the state.

There are now 494 ballots in question.

===============
November 10, 2013 12:39 pm by Rick Hasen
Republican Dominated Elections Board, at Direction of AG Cuccinelli, Changes Rules for Counting Provisional Ballots
http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56609&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electionlawblog%2FuqCP+%28Election+Law%29

.... this development reported by WTOP was a big surprise:

A last-minute change means Fairfax County voters who cast provisional ballots may face troubles getting them counted.

Nearly 500 voters cast provisional ballots in the county, many more across Virginia, in Tuesday’s election. But the promise from Democratic and Republican parties to make sure their ballots got counted is now no good.

The state Electoral Board decided Friday to change the rules that had been followed in Fairfax County and ban legal representatives from stepping in to help get the ballot counted, unless the voter him or herself is there.

County Electoral Board Secretary Brian Shoeneman says he and board chairman Seth Stark disagree with the ruling, but they have to comply. The board is voting on some provisional ballots later Saturday.

“The office of the Attorney General advised us that this was the correct reading of the statute,” State Board of Elections Secretary Don Palmer says.

There’s more on the change from the Huffington Post. The Board of Elections says it is issuing this directive to insure that there is uniformity across the state in how provisional ballots are handled. But it appears the directive came out after most of the provisional ballots (outside of Democratic Fairfax and Arlington counties) have already been counted .....

... Was the rule pronounced Friday for sound election administration reasons, or to give the Republican the edge (as Democrats have already suggested)? ..........

==================
... #ThatAwkwardMoment when VA GOP switches from trying to prevent people from voting to preventing votes being counted
The Daily Edge ?@TheDailyEdge
Republicans confident of victory in #VAAG race: "As long as we can prevent all the votes for Democrat Mark Herring being counted" ...

[Tx4obama]

169. New UPDATE: Herring 'might be' 72 votes ahead now

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict

Ok, folks. @VirginiaSBE says RIchmond 501 went Herring (D) 830-144. Trusted source: registrar's results sheet says Herring 983-181. #VAAG

https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/399382317287735297

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict

IF that is correct, Herring (D) would net 116 votes, putting him in the lead by an estimated 72 votes even before Fairfax proviz #VAAG

https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/399382879018299392

[Coyotl]

170. Heading out of recount territory? I wouldn't be surprised. More from Dave, Brad = Herring +116

Down to the Provisionals: 55 Vote Margin (or Less) Out of 2.2 Million Cast in Virginia AG Race
Memo from State Board of Elections delays final tally in heavily Democratic Fairfax County, where hundreds of provisionals remain...
By Brad Friedman on 11/9/2013, 7:53pm PT - http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10363

.... a surprise edict concerning provisional ballots, as issued by the Republican State Board of Elections, ... stopped the Fairfax County Electoral Board dead in their tracks on Saturday before they were able to adjudicate all of the county's provisionals as previously planned. ...

.... The SBE's edict today, posted in full here, could make it more difficult for provisionals to be accepted by the Fairfax County Electoral Board. In Virginia, when a provisional ballot is cast on Election Day --- because a voter didn't have the proper ID, they were voting at the wrong precinct, or they found themselves not on the rolls for some reason --- voters have three days after the election to show up at their local election headquarters with the proper ID and/or other information to argue the case as to why their ballot should be counted.

.... When voters don't show up, an attorney may be present on his own to argue on behalf of the ballot being included in the count. At least, that had been the way Fairfax County had traditionally proceeded, until the SBE issued its memo declaring "the provisional voter must also be present if a person claims to be there to represent the voter as his/her legal counsel...There shall be no legal counsel or representative present in the meeting without the voter being present."

..............

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 45m ago
IF that is correct, Herring (D) would net 116 votes, putting him in the lead by an estimated 72 votes even before Fairfax proviz #VAAG

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 47m ago
Ok, folks. @VirginiaSBE says RIchmond 501 went Herring (D) 830-144. Trusted source: registrar's results sheet says Herring 983-181. #VAAG

[Tx4obama]

171. But the article at Bradblog also says...

-snip-

The instruction led the Republican-majority Fairfax County Electoral Board to extend their deadline for voters to come in and plead their case until Tuesday. On Saturday, according to Tribbett, they voted "2-0 with 1 abstaining to condemn (the) state board of elections ruling prohibiting legal rep for voters not here."

The action to allow voters more time to argue for inclusion of their provisional ballots also resulted in plaudits for Fairfax County Electoral Board member Brian Schoeneman --- a Republican and former Bush Administration staffer --- from normally ideological opponents, and also condemnation from at least one of his fellow Republicans, who asked: "Why is Brian Schoeneman, who purports to be a Republican, helping Democrats by extending this deadline?"

For his part, Schoeneman took to Twitter to explain what was going on and to respond to questions about the ruling. He tried to calm concerns by asking that folks "don't blow the SBE issue out of proportion. This is simply a disagreement between lawyers. It has little impact on voters."

"To be clear, this wasn't an SBE change. They believe this has always been their policy," he said, adding "This was reminder guidance to localities. Not every locality had our past practice."

That practice, he explained, is "to allow voters to present us with evidence as to why they voted provisionals. It's a courtesy to them." He tweeted late Saturday that provisional voters "don't 'need' to come in. They may if they want. They are given a sheet when they vote provisional explaining it." Schoeneman went on to vow, "we will review every ballot on a case by case basis and decide each ballot, regardless of whether the voter appears."

-snip-

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10363

Of course to be on the safe side everyone should go and make sure their ballot is counted

[onenote]

172. How does this race get out of recount territory?

In Virginia, a candidate can request a recount if the margin between the two top vote getters is not more than 1 percent of the votes cast for those two candidates. At this point, with over 2.2 million votes cast, that would mean the margin would have to be more than 22,000 and that's not happening. Due to the rules about who pays for the recount, it may well be that no recount would be requested if the margin is more than one-half percent, and that's 11,000.

So I think a recount is still very much on the table.

[Coyotl]

175. After the Fairfax provisional votes are added, there may be near a 300 margin.

Last edited Sun Nov 10, 2013, 02:10 PM - Edit history (1)

With most of the state using electronic voting the recount will produce very little change, maybe 20-30 votes, especially after such close attention to the canvass. So, asking for a recount will be mute. Note previous recount in Virginia.

ON EDIT:

However, what percent of provisionals get counted still matters. The Herring plus margin should move past the three digit marker even if that percent is low.

Brian W. Schoeneman ?@BrianSchoeneman 1h ago
@Redistrict @notlarrysabato I don't want to speculate at this point, but 2012 we had a 40% count rate. We had 2537 total 1102 qualified

[onenote]

178. In 1989,

Douglas Wilder led after the initial certified vote canvass by over 6000 votes, but still less than one-half of one percent. His repub opponent, Marshall Coleman, asked for a recount, in which he picked up a little more than 100 votes.

I can't imagine a recount overturning the results if one party or the other has more than a 500 vote lead. But anything less than that? If it was Herring on the short end of a 500 vote margin, I suspect we'd be strongly urging a recount. And Obenshain's supporters will be doing the same if Wasserman is correct about the final margin.

[Tx4obama]

173. Wasserman has updated his spread sheet: Herring ahead by 82 votes

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 12m

By my math, if reports of the #ShockoeSlipUp are correct & tallies change, Herring (D) would take lead by 82 votes https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvOrrxBeaarVdGhvNWZZN2UzUVY1bDVoYW83bWszM1E#gid=0

https://twitter.com/Redistrict

[Coyotl]

179. UPDATE: VA SBE update 1,103,443 vs. 1,103,426 Herring (D) = 17 vote R margin w/o Fairfax votes

Last edited Mon Nov 11, 2013, 01:10 PM - Edit history (1)

Monday Morning updates:

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 9h
By my math, there are 627 provisional votes outstanding, including 492 in Fairfax Co. Only a fraction of those 627 will be counted. #VAAG

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 9h
It is somewhat surprising 2013 provisionals have not skewed Dem. In '09, Cuccinelli (R) won state big but took proviz only 368-363. #VAAG.

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 9h
By my math, of 2,511 provisional ballots adjudicated so far, 1,157 (45.7%) have had valid #VAAG votes. Obenshain (R) 583, Herring (D) 574.

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 11h
It's unclear whether there is still an issue in Richmond 501, where sources said registrar's tally sheet had 190 more votes than on SBE.

K. Travis Ballie ?@KTravisBallie 1h
Milling about with reporters at 8am in front of the Fairfax County Government building. Waiting for a morning of provisional balloting #VAAG

PM Eastern Time Updates (on edit): https://twitter.com/search?q=%23vaag&src=typd&f=realtime

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 50m ago
#CarytownConundrum #ShockoeSlipUp MT @JoeStGeorge Richmond #vaag drama. 8 precincts will be reviewed today at 1pm. Included is Richmond 501.

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 54m
However, (also via @JoeStGeorge), it was *Republicans* who asked to review these 8 precincts...so would they contain missing D votes? #VAAG

Jake Grovum ?@jgrovum 1h
VA official: "No voter is required to appear as a prerequisite to have his or her provisional ballot count." http://bit.ly/1i1kvFz #VAAG

Jake Grovum ?@jgrovum 1h
If you're following the maneuvering around provisional ballots in #VAAG don't miss this @rickhasen update http://bit.ly/1i1kvFz

[Coyotl]

180. Previously uncounted votes in Richmond 603 gives Herring lead = exactly 100 votes now

We have moved out of recount changing outcome territory already.

Once again, a voting machine giving a Dem a large portion of the vote was somehow "ignored" in the vote tally! What are the odds?

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 22m
Voting machine #3791 in Richmond precinct 501 gave Herring (D) 153, Obenshain (R) 37. Its addition gives Herring #VAAG lead by 99 votes.

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 45s ago
Previously uncounted paper ballot in Richmond 603 gives Herring (D) another vote. His #VAAG lead has expanded to exactly 100.

==========================
UPDATES on edit = Now 109 vote lead:

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 1m ago
All the rumored Richmond "errors" sources added to our spreadsheet days ago turned out to be true: #ShockoeSlipUp h

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 5m
Wow, Herring (D) gains 9 more RT @JoeStGeorge 802 pricint: 563 for herring 24 for Obenshain #vaag

Joe St. George ?@JoeStGeorge
The irony is 501 precinct was requested to be reviewed by GOP

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict
Credit to my sources who first flagged 190 missing Richmond 501 votes the day after the election - turned out to be right.

====================
Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 5m
By my math, Herring (D) has taken #VAAG lead over Obenshain (R) by 115 votes: ...

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict 1m
Richmond City's GOP-requested recanvass of 8 precincts could not have gone much worse for Obenshain (R). #ShockoeSlipUp #VAAG

[Neurotica]

181. More votes to Herring -- woo hoo!

Up by 115 now according to Wasserman.

Feeling good about this now.

[Coyotl]

182. Grasping at straws? Now down 115 votes, GOP requests review of 9 more precincts in Richmond.

As this nail-biter begins to move out of recount territory, the numbers keep moving in favor of Dem Mark Herring.

It is disturbing that a review of only 8 precincts found a 135 Dem vote advantage had gone "missing" somehow.

Ryan Nobles ?@ryanobles 3m ago
#rva Electoral Board will look at 9 more precincts.. I'm only going to tweet changes from here on out. #VAAG

Dave Wasserman ?@Redistrict
Dems note that 2 of 3 members of Richmond City's electoral board are, in fact, GOP. #ShockoeSlipUp #VAAG

Taniel ?@Taniel 4m
Whatever comes out of the Fairfax provisional ballots, it's safe to say Obenshain will not net 115 votes among them. #VAAG

On edit: ========
We've reached the stage where a mob of GOP operatives in suits scream for the counting to continue!!

Loudoun Democrats ?@LoudounDems 1m
Crying? RT @JoeStGeorge Obenshain lawyers huddling in corner #VAAG

Ed Sykes ?@EdSykes29 5m
As many have pointed out, this #VAAG review in #RVA was actually requested by GOP...and has resulted in a 100+ vote swing toward Dems

[Coyotl]

183. VA State Board of Elections (SBE) reports 1,103,610 Herring - 1,103,493 = 117 vote margin

with about 270 of 493 provisional ballots to be accepted for counting in Fairfax County tomorrow.

Valerie Garner ?@ValerieInRke 4m ago
@SenMarkHerring (D) takes lead by 117 over @MarkObenshain (R) in #VAAG race. pic.twitter.com/ivH1zJpSYT



New LBN thread: Democrats Might Have Won the Last Big Election of 2013 With a Newly Discovered Voting Machine
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014645290

Don't like the spin to that title, but the facts should out. The truth is more like Dem activists discovered votes not counted by election workers.

[uponit7771]

184. nice, they find the 3000 votes?

[Coyotl]

185. Mark Herring (D) has won #VAAG by 163 votes with ALL ballots counted!

via twitter as last results are counted.

[malaise]

186. Clean fugging sweep

Wonderful. Congrats Virginia DUers

[Coyotl]

187. Onward, to Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida, Texas, .......

Time to get out the brooms and sweep out the crazy in American politics.