Politics & Government

Voting Error Could Change Outcome of Election

The results of these ballots could prove pivotal in races such as the attorney general's.

The Fairfax County Electoral Board (FCEB) released a statement Saturday indicating the discovery that 3,200 absentee ballots had not been tabulated on election day, Tuesday.

The corrected mistake could have an important impact on the results of certain countywide and statewide races—perhaps most notably in that of the attorney general.

As of late Tuesday night on election day, Republican attorney general candidate Mark Obenshain led Democrat Mark Herring by just over 1,200 votes, or 0.5 percent. With Fairfax County largely voting Democratic in Tuesday's election, the results from the 3,200 absentee ballots could prove to be pivotal.

The discovery was made during an investigation over the past few days, which took place after Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-11th) noticed a possible discrepancy in the number of absentee ballots counted in the 8th Congressional District.

Election officials had reported that around 7,200 absentee ballots had been requested from voters in the 8th district, yet only around 5,500 absentee ballots were recorded Tuesday, which was a far less return than any other district reported.

Elections officials investigated the return rate on absentee ballots in that district as they canvassed vote totals across the county, working to certify their results by the usual deadline of Nov. 12, or one week from election day.

About 2 p.m. Saturday, FCEB officials released a statement with their findings from the investigation.

"The final results of our investigation determined that there were errors in the tabulation that reduced the final vote tally by approximately 3,200 votes," the FCEB's statement read. "Those errors were corrected in the canvass.  The corrected numbers will be provided to the State Board of Elections for reflection on their statewide results website later today.

"We want to thank the staff for their hard work in double- and triple-checking the results to ensure that the errors that became apparent were thoroughly investigated and reconciled."

There is still more work to be done, the statement indicated.

"These results will not be final, however, until the final certification of our results, which we expect will occur on Tuesday, Nov. 12.  The deadline for our certification is midnight on Tuesday," the statement read. "We expect to complete the canvass of all results in Fairfax by Sunday, Nov. 10."

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