Virginia Recount Thread

[Andrew]

It makes perfect sense to have a recount if the election is within 0.5%.  We know that the ballots were not counted accurately the first time--they never are.  I can't remember a recount where the recounted totals matched the original totals exactly.

Why do we tolerate anything less than perfection when it comes to vote-counting?

[gorkay]

I don't care if they have a recount or not. There's no way Allen is going to make up eight thousand votes.

We had a recount in the state attorney general's race last year and there was only a difference of 20-odd votes in the total. Granted, a lot more people voted this time, but still, it just isn't going to happen.

[Mr. Morden]

From the Hotline:

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/11/republicans_wil.html

"Republicans Will Pressure Allen... Soon

Top Republicans in Washington will give Sen. George Allen a few days to take stock of his legal and political options before beginning to pressure him to concede to James Webb. Senior Republican officials and White House aides believe that Webb won the race. Several outside advisers to Allen want him to make the decision quickly; others in his campaign want to make sure that there's no chance a cache of new votes will turn up. One question: when will (will?) the AP call the race?"

[J. J.]

The county still out is Isle of Wight, with  92% reporting; it is an Allen county.

They should wait for the military ballots and to see if there were any tabulation errors.  If it's less than 4,000, ask for a recount.

[jimrtex]

EDIT: Conditional precincts are by Congressional district.  Also added note copied for Board of Elections website.

I just looked at the Virginia figures, and they are now showing there are 141 precincts left to report their figures.    Maybe they are revising the earlier numbers?

"VA Board of Elections website"

It still shows Webb with a 7300 vote lead. 

Virginia counts provisional ballots as a separate precinct.  Each county/independent city has one or more "conditional" precincts.  I think they correspond to congressional districts, so that a county split between senate districts would have more than one conditional precincts.

If you look at the county breakdown allmost every county has M of M +(1,2,3) precincts reporting.  There are a few where the the conditional ballots have been counted.  They appear to be very small numbers (Allen won the conditional votes in one city by a 2:1 margin).

If you recall the AG race last year in Virginia, votes were being changed for days and weeks after the election night.

From Virginia Board of Elections web site

Important Note about Percentage of Precincts Reporting:
The percentage of precincts reporting has changed due to the start of the canvas and the counting of provisional ballots. For reporting purposes, the day immediately following the election, each locality creates one conditional vote (CV) precinct, per congressional district, in which to report their provisional votes. Localities with no provisional votes will show total votes of zero in the CV precinct for each candidate/ballot issue

[Colin]

I think he should ask for a recount no matter what unless the gap between Allen and Webb is over .5%. I think any election within that small a margin should have a recount just to make sure that the votes were tabulated correctly and to make sure that the vote itself was not unfair.