Luck will decide tied Virginia race
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A court has now declared a tie in a Virginia legislative election that one day earlier appeared to have gone to a Democrat by a single vote, the latest dramatic twist in a contest likely to decide control of the state House.
A three-judge panel certified the 94th District in Newport News as tied at 11,608 to 11,608 on Wednesday, a day after a recount appeared to give Shelly Simonds the victory over Republican Delegate David Yancey.
By state law, the winner of the tie will be determined “by lot.” The law doesn’t specify the actual method or when that takes place.
But Virginia Board of Elections Chairman James Alcorn said that barring some kind of legal challenge, the board likely will try to meet as soon as possible and pick the winner the same way it picks ballot order. He said each candidate’s name is placed into a separate film canister, the canisters are placed into a glass bowl and shaken up. The canister containing the winner’s name is pulled out at random by a board member.
If the board feels festive, it may use an old-fashioned tricorner hat to put names in, which Alcorn said he thinks has been used to settle local election ties in the past.
The tie came about after Yancey successfully challenged an uncounted ballot that he said should have been included in his total. His attorneys cited concerns raised by a GOP election official who participated in the recount.
The official, Kenneth Mallory, wrote that the ballot had both candidates’ names bubbled in for the 94th District race. He said the voter had chosen Republican candidates in every other race.
“Simonds’ bubble had an additional slash mark through it,” the letter said.
Simonds, a school board member, had initially appeared to lose November’s election by 10 votes before a recount Tuesday.
The outcome likely will decide partisan control of the House of Delegates. If Yancey wins, Republicans will hold on to power by one seat, 51-49. If Simonds wins, a rare power-sharing agreement would have to be brokered.