VA AG recount to begin Dec 21 and will take 2 days.

[FSogol]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/06/AR2005120601942.html

[Duppers]

1. It's off now! @#$#$!!! Court rejects Dems argument to contested AG race

Court rejects Democrat's argument in contested AG's race

12/09/2005

By KRISTEN GELINEAU / Associated Press


A court ruled on Friday that more than 500,0000 ballots in the contested attorney general's race will not be rerun through vote tabulators in the upcoming recount.

A three-judge panel of the Richmond Circuit Court denied a request by Democratic Sen. Creigh Deeds of Bath County to rescan all "optical scan ballots" — paper ballots read by machine — during the recount scheduled for Dec. 20.

The State Board of Elections last week certified Republican Bob McDonnell as the winner by just 323 votes out of 1,943,250 cast statewide in the Nov. 8 election — a margin of 0.0166 of a percentage point — making it the closest statewide election in modern Virginia history. Deeds, his opponent, requested a recount.

Virginia law allows for recounts if the results fall within 1 percentage point, and recounts are done at government expense if the difference is less than one-half of a point.

Deeds' attorney, Joseph Kearfott, argued that thousands of votes would not be recounted if all the ballots were not scanned again. In court papers, Deeds' legal team wrote there were 929 "undervotes" in Chesterfield County and 1,393 in Virginia Beach. An undervote occurs when the machine records no vote being cast for attorney general. But during a rescan of those ballots, the machine might pick up votes that it failed to recognize the first time, Kearfott said.

Kearfott also argued that some votes were not counted at all. He presented the judges with an affidavit from a member of the Gloucester County Electoral Board, who said printouts from the county's voting machines indicated 78 ballots were never counted.

"Here there is a meaningful chance that a full recount ... could result in the difference in the election," Kearfott told the panel. "You owe it to the candidates and to the state of Virginia."

But McDonnell's attorney, Bill Hurd, argued that only those ballots that may be unclear should be scanned again.

more...http://www.wvec.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8ED0CD06.html

[swimboy]

2. It seems to me that this is little more than a re-certification

rather than a recount. McDonnell came right out and said this was more advantageous to him because it was less likely to change counts. What a disappointment.

[swimboy]

3. Duplicated post.