In November, insurgent Democrats came close to winning control. Before the election, Republicans held 66 of 100 seats in the House of Delegates. The GOP thought the lower house was gerrymandered to give them permanent control.
But they miscalculated.
In the Big Blue Wave That swept over Virginia, Democrats captured a large number of “safe” seats. Two contests are still being challenged. In one, the Democratic challenger and Republican incumbent were almost tied. The votes were counted, then recounted. After the recount, the Democrat, former teacher Shelley Simonds, won by one vote. Both parties agreed. The the loser David Yancey objected, filed an appeal, and the appeals court declared one vote invalid, making the election a tie, to be decided by a coin toss.
This just in:
http://www.vahousedems.org/press/breaking-recount-rules-david-yancey-grinch-who-stole-election
“With the hustle of the holidays, I wanted to be sure that you hadn’t missed the big news of the last week. After a recount on Dec. 19, Delegate-elect Shelly Simonds of Newport News (D) was declared the winner in House District 94 by one vote. Both Republican and Democratic recount officials signed off on the result, and House Republicans conceded the race (and the majority).
“However, the next day Delegate David Yancey (R) broke recount rules in a desperate effort to steal with the election, re-litigating a ballot in court that both the Democratic and Republican observers had already agreed on. If this ruling is allowed to stand, the integrity of the recount process will be broken in Virginia for all future elections. Read our press release here for more background on what happened.
“It’s important we get out the word about what happened. Can you help us by using the hashtag #StandWithShelly on social media?
#StandWithShelly on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VAHouseDems/status/945078799577776133
#StandWithShelly on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vahousedems/posts/1976034819079612
#StandWithShelly by helping us pay her legal bills: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/recount17
“In addition to fighting for Delegate-elect Simonds, we’re also working to support Joshua Cole in HD-28. In that election, 147 voters were erroneously given ballots for the wrong districts — and the margin separating the two candidates is only 73 (less than half the number of disenfranchised voters). A new election is the only solution, and both the Washington Post and Daily Press editorial boards have called for one. Voters have brought a federal lawsuit requesting one as well; there will be a hearing in that case on Jan. 5 in Alexandria.
“We are grateful for your support for these two candidates, and even more importantly, for the voters of HD-94 and HD-28. They deserve fair elections.”
– Katie Baker
Communications Director
Virginia House Democrats
So any time I don’t like a close call that goes against me even though I have accepted the “do-over” procedures, I can raise a stink and find someone in authority to support me? Think of all those childhood game disputes that were settled with a “do-over” procedures accepted by all. While there might have been a few grumbles after the fact, no one ever questioned the legitimacy of the procedure. Even children recognize the importance of protecting the integrity of the process; otherwise the game can’t function.
The GOP regressives are not only sore losers they are also sore winners: case in point, “glorious leader” Trump. He’s still claiming that the popular vote was stolen by some supposed massive mythical voter fraud.
👍👍
Right on, Joe.
And he still wants to investigate Hillary and put her in jail. Sore winner! He knows he was illegitimately elected by Putin.
C’mon Diane, your last sentence is so obscenely absurd that it should be placed in the category of a Breitbart or Faux News or Limbaugh utterance.
Do Breitbart and Limbaugh agree that Trump was chosen by Putin? Interesting.
Here’s what we do know as of now: Russian state-sponsored hackers and trolls actively engaged in fomenting chaos, discontent and dissension in the American (and European) political and election process through social media, which had the potential to shift the election through micro-targeting of key audiences and constituencies. It was done to support the candidacy of our Dear Leader. Should Clinton have won, the goal was to make it as difficult for her administration to govern as possible. In the aftermath, the current administration, their allies in Congress, and its media propaganda network have done all they can to minimize, obscure and delegitimize the intelligence services and media coverage that have uncovered and verified Russian meddling, with no proof to back it up.
So, Duane, as much as I admire you, I think to characterize Diane’s comments as “obscenely absurd” is, to put it as gently as possible, misguided. While a direct connection between Putin and the coronation of our Dear Leader has not (yet) been categorically proven, I hope you will agree that there’s a hell of a lot smoke comin’ out of that holler. It would be irresponsible to ignore it and it sure smells suspiciously authentic.
Imagine, if under the same circumstances, the preponderance of evidence were tilted toward Clinton’s favor and against candidate Trump. Would the Republican response have been as measured and deliberate as what we now see? Can you even begin to imagine the hyperbolic responses of Gohmert, Hatch, Jordan, etc., etc. (To paraphrase Yul Brynner’s King of Siam?) Would it have been “obscenely absurd”?
The latest news from local media as of this morning:
http://cbsn.ws/2CcOCfi
Last Updated Dec 27, 2017 7:47 AM EST
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The Democrat in a tied race for a Virginia House seat that could affect which party controls the chamber said Tuesday she’ll ask a court to declare the tie invalid and her the winner.
Shelly Simonds and her lawyers said the court failed to follow state election law by allowing a ballot to be counted a day after last week’s recount, among other errors. The campaign said it will ask the same court to reconsider its decision.
In the meantime, state election officials postponed their plan to break the tie Wednesday in Richmond by drawing names from a bowl. Under Virginia law, such a tie should be determined “by lot” — and the names may literally be pulled out of a hat, election officials previously told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Virginia Election Recount
Election officials in Newport News, Va., examine ballots that a computer failed to scan during a recount for a House of Delegates race, on Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017 BEN FINLEY / AP
James Alcorn, chairman of Virginia’s State Board of Elections, said in a series of tweets that drawing names “is an action of last resort.”
“Any substantive concerns regarding the election or recount should be resolved before a random drawing is conducted,” he wrote.
The race between Simonds and Republican Del. David Yancey is for the 94th House of Delegates District in Newport News. If Simonds were declared the winner, it would split party control of Virginia’s House 50-50.
A rare power-sharing agreement would have to be brokered between Democrats and Republicans. If no agreement can be reached, prolonged chaos could ensue.
Simonds appeared to have lost November’s election by 10 votes. Then she appeared to have won a recount by a single vote last week. A day later, a court in Newport News declared a tie.
“At the end of the day, this is really about the integrity of elections in Virginia,” Simonds said during a conference call with reporters.
Ezra Reese, an attorney for Simonds, said Tuesday that the court erred in following election law because it allowed an uncounted ballot to be challenged by Yancey’s campaign after the recount concluded.
Yancey’s attorneys told the court that a Republican election official was “confused” about election guidelines. The official had let the vote remain uncounted before raising concerns the next day.
The court allowed Yancey’s attorneys to challenge the ballot.
On the ballot in question, the voter had picked Republican candidates in statewide races. For the 94th District, the voter filled in the bubble for Yancey and the bubble for Simonds. But he or she also drew a single slash through the bubble for Simonds.
Yancey’s attorneys argued that the ballot was clearly a vote for Yancey. Simonds’ attorneys disagreed.
The court ultimately counted the vote for Yancey, which brought the tally to 11,608 votes each.
Gretchen Heal, a spokeswoman for the Yancey campaign, declined to comment Tuesday on the Simonds campaign’s planned litigation. But Heal said Yancey stands by the arguments made last week by his attorneys.
Whoever wins the 94th District race, the fight over control of the House may not end there. A lawsuit is pending over the results of a hotly contested race in the 28th District in the Fredericksburg area.
Democrat Joshua Cole lost to Republican Bob Thomas by 82 votes in November and by 73 votes in a recount last week. But voters filed a lawsuit in federal court after at least 147 ballots were found to be assigned to the wrong districts.
Virginia’s House races in November yielded overwhelming victories for Democrats. In Prince William County, a transgender woman who campaigned heavily on local issues like infrastructure beat out the socially conservative incumbent Republican Bob Marshall, who has been vocal about his criticisms of LGBT agendas.
GOP = Gerrymandered Oligarchic Plutocracy
No surprise that the Republicans are poor losers because they are also poor winners.
Ah yes, the Popular Mythology of Capitalism — JOB & MITH —
AKA the Jolly Old Banker and the Man In The Hardhat …
They sold it then and they keep trying to sell it today —
But the Jolly Old Bankster today “invests” more and more money on propaganda for the myth and and less and less on funding the Man In The Hardhat.
The Virginia courts are going to have to side with Virginia law and rule in favor of Shelly Simonds as the legitimate winner of the state delegate race.
Meanwhile, Roy Moore has filed suit in Alabama claiming ‘voter fraud’ though his attorneys cannot cite any examples, except that voters turned out in high numbers for Doug Jones, Moore’s opponent.
I’ve said it on this blog many times, Republicans do not like the concept of “We, the People” and they do not really like democratic governance all that much.
It’s not just the Virginia Republicans that are sore losers. The infamous Roy Moore just filed a lawsuit against seating Doug Jones. http://weartv.com/news/local/roy-moore-files-lawsuit-to-block-alabama-senate-result-12-28-2017-134157350
I bet Moore’s “lawyer [who] is a Jew” voted for Jones.
I am a registered Republican, and I live in Virginia. I am not a “sore loser” we lost the governorship, fair and square. Even Diane complimented me, on my statement.
The lawyers are still haggling it out, on the disputed seat. No one called Al Gore “sore” when he challenged the results in Florida in 2002.
It may come down to a lottery, I hope not.
https://www.google.com/search?as_q=%22Al+Gore%22+%22Sore+Loser%22