Politics & Government

Virginia Attorney General Race: Fairfax Recount Results

165 votes split the candidates in the last statewide race.

State. Sen. Mark Herring had more reason to celebrate his lead Monday in Virginia's Attorney General race. As voting offices began a three-day recount Monday, the campaign had a net gain of 91 votes in the lead over Republican Mark Obenshain, according to Fairfax County election officials.

Statewide, the election Nov. 5 went to Herring over Obenshain by just 165 votes of more than 2.2 million cast. In Fairfax County on Monday, Herring added 183 votes and Obenshain added 92 votes. Officials expect to complete the recount in the county by Wednesday night.

The recount begins in most voting offices across the state Tuesday.

THE TOTALS:
The latest statewide totals
Totals as of Dec. 15, 2013: 
Mark Herring: 1,103,777
Mark Obenshain: 1,103,612
Write-In: 4,892
Total: 2,212,281

Fairfax County totals (pre-recount):
Mark Herring: 184,963
Mark Obenshain: 117,425
Write-In: 695

THE PROCESS
From The Washington Post:
On Monday, 40 teams of Fairfax recount officials — each consisting of one Democrat and one Republican — will begin feeding ballots back through machines or hand-counting the ballots that can’t be read. Each team will be watched by observers from the two campaigns, while (Fairfax Electoral Board Secretary Brian) Schoeneman and Seth T. Stark, the electoral board chairman, oversee the process.
 
THE END
Fairfax is getting a court-approved head start, along with Alexandria and Chesapeake. The rest of the state will conduct the recount Dec. 17 and Dec. 18. Results are expected by the end of the week, as long as the election doesn't face any additional legal challenges from the losing candidate.

EVERYTHING ELSE
Fairfax is also conducting a recount for the Va. House of Delegates 86th District, where incumbent Republican Tom Rust defeated Democrat Jennifer Boysko by 54 votes.

Fairfax's Office of Elections has lots of information (and just about every imaginable correspondence) regarding this year's recount.


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