Election officials in several jurisdictions are preparing for recounts in tight races for the House of Delegates. But the recount in Newport News is one that might actually change the outcome of the election.
Republican incumbent David Yancey has represented Newport News in the House of Delegates since he was first elected in 2011. But this year, he was almost unseated by Democrat Shelly Simonds. In this case, almost means the Republican has a ten-vote margin of victory. Simonds says her campaign to win the seat is not over.
“It is very stressful. I do feel like I have the weight of the Virginia House of Delegates on my shoulders. But we just think there’s a lot at stake here.”
At stake is control of the House of Delegates, or at least a power sharing agreement between Republicans and Democrats who will be tied at 50-50 if Simonds prevails after the recount.
“We are optimistic that we still have a chance to win this thing, and get some important things done up in Richmond.”
Recounts almost never change the outcome of an election. But Quentin Kidd at Christopher Newport University says this race might be different. For one thing, the Democrat needs to pick up only ten votes to win, and Democrats almost always pick up votes in recounts because their voters sometimes have a hard time reading instructions that are written in English. But Kidd says there’s another very important reason to keep an open mind about this recount.
“We’ve been voting with electronic ballots for the last decade or so, and so there isn’t a recent history of voting on paper ballots.”
It is very stressful. I do feel like I have the weight of the Virginia House of Delegates on my shoulders.
Kidd, who lives in this district and voted in this election, says this is the first election in about 20 years where voters were confronted with a paper ballot. And many might not have known what to do.
"Somebody put a circle around the name as opposed to marking in the oval. Or somebody put a circle around the oval. Or they put an x over the oval. Or they put a checkmark by the name.”
That may not be as far-fetched as it seems. Ezra Reese is an attorney for Shelly Simonds.
“Keep in mind that the modern voting machine is essentially meant to read a vote that is equivalent to an SAT bubble. So you and I probably spent a lot of time practicing how to fill in those bubbles. But a lot of voters never got that opportunity or never spent a lot of time worrying about it.”
And Reese says those voters are more likely to vote for the Democrat.
“This is the closest recount I’ve ever been involved in, and I’ve been involved in a lot of recounts. This is an extraordinarily close race. Would I bet my house on it? No. But I certainly would place a bet on it, and I don’t think that anybody should be surprised if the results of this election are overturned.”
Through a spokesman, Delegate Yaney declined to comment. A spokesman for House Republican Leader Kirk Cox did not want to speak on the air about the recount, but issued a written statement saying Republicans are committed making sure all votes lawfully cast are counted.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
