Difference of 17 votes in VA AG race: recount appears likely
(CNN) - The race for Virginia Attorney General appears headed for a recount, with 17 votes separating the candidates a week after Election Day out of more than 2.2 million ballots cast.
Republican state Sen. Mark D. Obenshain currently has a 0.0015%, lead over Democratic state Sen. Mark Herring, 1,103,443 to 1,103,426 in unofficial results, more than close enough for Herring to petition for a recount.
The Virginia Board of Elections allows any candidate who loses by less than 1% of the vote to make such a petition.
"The race is far from over," Herring told reporters last week.
"The commonwealth has a process to make sure all the votes are counted and we are going to make sure we go through that process," he said. "Right now it is basically 50-50 and the numbers have been moving in our direction all night."
Obenshain appeared well aware of the precipitous nature of his lead in a tweet Monday.
Another week, more ballots to count! Thanks Team O for your tireless efforts, especially over the past week. Keep the faith!
— Mark Obenshain (@MarkObenshain) November 11, 2013
A recount, if it does happen, won't start for several weeks.
First, the unofficial results need to be certified official, which won't happen until November 25. Even then, Herring would not be able to challenge absentee and provisional ballots that were ruled invalid, or the eligibility of voters. State election rules do, however, allow candidates to challenge whether or not standard ballots were tallied correctly.
The race to succeed outgoing Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli followed a narrative of national issues and character attacks.
Obenshain accused Herring of being anti-gun and taxing "your freedom away." Herring went after Obenshain as being too close to Cuccinelli and his views on social issues painted by Democrats as being "extreme."
Cuccinelli narrowly lost his own bid to be the next governor of the Old Dominion, falling behind Democrat Terry McAuliffe by 3 percent.
–CNN's Dan Merica and Bryan Koenig contributed to this report.
10000 vote difference? Don't forget top count the 3rd party candidates votes. Not sure but that might be a factor also
Why is it that whenever we do a recount the votes always always always favor the Democrat and never add to the GOP guy's votes.
Repubs are running scared, as they should. They are full of bs. They have zero plans on anything for this country. They cannot win elections fair and square so "cheat" anyway you can is all they have left...sad.