UPDATE:  DISCREPANCY FOUND IN FAIRFAX WITH ABSENTEE BALLOTS

Washington Post

herring

When I went to bed, Obenshain was ahead by a few hundred votes.  When I woke up, Herring was in the lead.   All precincts are not in yet.  Whatever end result there is today, there will be a recount.  The vote is simply too close to declare a winner.

As I made the rounds on Facebook last night, I saw many of our local politicians crowing about the win.  I wonder how they feel this morning?

It’s over when the last vote is …recounted.  I am keeping my fingers crossed.  However, the old adage, “don’t count your chickens before they hatch” is a really good thing to remember.  3 precincts are missing.  2 in Mecklenburg and 1 in Rockingham.  Both counties are heavy republican fortresses.  Rockingham County surrounds Harrisonburg, where Obenshain is from.  It might be better to hold out for the re-count.

18 Thoughts to “Wednesday Morning Surprise: Herring leads by around 600 votes”

  1. Scout

    I’m assuming that the behavior you observed was coming from Republicans. How does one “crow” about a win when it is this close, when the two other spots are lost, and when there are still votes to be counted? It seems one would have to be a special kind of jackass to behave like that.

  2. Yes, Republicans. I think they were crowing because they like him. I personally thought it was a little premature.

    As it turns out, with 100% of the precincts reporting, Obenshain won by about 500 or less points. Definitely a recount. Who says every vote doesn’t count!!!

  3. Pat.Herve

    are you sure Moon – I just looked – http://electionresults.virginia.gov/resultsSW.aspx?type=SWR&map=CTY – and Herring is leading by a huge margin – well 32 votes. It could turn out to be a 3 for 3 sweep.

    1. You probably need to refresh your browser. Obenshain appears to have won.

  4. Lyssa

    I get the same thing…

  5. Pat.Herve

    yes Ob is now on top again – it just shows what happens when the paper and provisional ballots are counted – that is what this race is coming down to.

    1. We supposedly won’t know the official outcome until sometime in December. I am just assuming Obenshain won. It’s hard to scrape up an accidental 600 votes.

  6. Steve Thomas

    Moon-howler :We supposedly won’t know the official outcome until sometime in December. I am just assuming Obenshain won. It’s hard to scrape up an accidental 600 votes.

    I would agree. Once the canvass has been completed and provisionals accepted or rejected, the needle doesn’t move much. 700+ votes is big. During the last recount (McDonnell/Deeds AG), only 37 additional votes were added to either candidate’s total, and McDonnell won by 400ish votes.

  7. I don’t know if he was kidding or not but Ben Tribbett was talking about a bunch of uncounted ballots found in Fairfax. Maybe its an inside joke and I just don’t get it.

    At any rate….the mystery continues.

  8. There is a serious issue in Fairfax County regarding missing absentee ballots. The discrepancy is arising out of District 8.

    See article in Washington Post:

    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?hpid=z2

  9. Steve Thomas

    @Moon-howler
    My understanding is the descrepancy isn’t about the votes “not being counted”, it’s a decrepancy of requested vs. returned. The other areas of Fairfax had a higher ratio of requested/returned than did the area in question. It’s not (as I understand) a matter of we had x number returned, but can’t find them. It’s we sent x out and got so few back. This could mean there was a concerted campaign to get people to request absentees (which is something the Obama campaign was very good at), which the registrar would then send out, and they weren’t completed and returned. Could be the requestor didn’t bother to vote, or more likely, actually voted in person. I highly doubt there is a box of absentees sitting in someone’s desk, or in some landfill somewhere.

    1. I am basing my information on the WaPo and on what Ben Tribbett said. I personally have no idea what’s going on. District 8 had a lot fewer absentee ballots processed, compared to districts 10, 11 compared to the number requested.

      Maybe they were lost, maybe the people in district 8 who requested ballots were just too lazy to fill them out and return the ballots. Maybe they didn’t have a witness. I just don’t know.

      As for the Obama campaign requesting absentee ballots, I have never been asked to do that. Where does that come from? Pete Candland encouraged early voting when he was running for office. I doubt if he was being directed by Obama. I think all voting should be absentee, personally. At least people should have an option without having to stretch the truth.

  10. Scout

    My daughter, who is at university, requested an absentee ballot from Fairfax and was denied on the grounds that the application was not received more than a week in advance of the election. The timing could have been close if the mails were slow, but, in normal conditions, there should have been more than adequate time for her application to be received and acted on. I wonder if one looked at denials of applications for absentee ballots whether there might not be a lot of them that were from kids in Williamsburg, Charlottesville or Blacksburg (of course, a lot of applications probably originate at those places).

    1. I thought there was a specific cut off date, not something arbitrary?

      Remember when everyone went in to orbit over those serving overseas in the military? I see no difference.

      She should have received a ballot.

      I practically had to beg for one.

  11. Scout

    The cut-off date is that the application has to be received a week before the election. She got a rejection notice on the Thursday after the deadline. Which would have been enough time to send a ballot, I would think. She may have been out of time – I really don’t know. Her records show that she mailed the completed application on the Saturday before the Tuesday deadline.

    1. It sounds like someone was overly zealous in rule following.

  12. Scout

    I suppose if one has the impression that university students will trend liberal, one might really be a stickler about applications from college towns. I don’t have a problem with deadlines as long as they are strictly and uniformly enforced for everyone. I have no evidence that that was not the case, but, as we move toward more widespread voting by mail and other absentee forms, one has to watch the process very carefully to ensure absolute integrity.

    1. Oh, I agree. You know I had trouble getting a ballot. I stayed on it and started in late September. It took a few weeks to resolve it.

      Did I suspect hanky panky? Of course. One always thinks of that. However, I have no real reason to think it was anything more than my original application getting lost.

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