Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) – A court ruling Wednesday means the drawing to pick the winner of Virginia’s tied 94th District House race will happen Thursday as planned.
The names of both candidates – Republican Del. David Yancey and Democratic challenger Shelly Simonds – will be put into plastic film canisters, which will then be place in a glass bowl. The winner of the race will be the person whose name is in the canister drawn from the bowl.
While it sounds ridiculous, Chair of the Virginia Board of Elections James Alcorn said this tradition goes back to the beginning of elections in Virginia.
“We want to make this as objective and as fair as possible, so that’s why we put them into the film canisters. There’s no way that anybody on the board can then see the names that are in the canisters while we’re selecting the names,” said Alcorn.
Film canisters are a commodity these days, but the board doesn’t need to go scrambling to find some. Alcorn said they’ve been using the same canisters for years. He believes they have been using the same glass bowl for decades.
Once the winner is drawn, the board’s role in the process is over.
“There’s an open question about whether or not there will be a recount after the drawing tomorrow,” Alcorn said.
Virginia law allows the loser of a drawing for a tie to ask for a recount, but it’s unclear whether that applies in this case since there has already been a recount.
Simonds asked Yancey Wednesday to agree to not ask for a recount after the drawing, but he said no. She said now all options are on the table for her.
The election’s so important because the winner could determine which party controls the Virginia House of Delegates.
If Yancey wins, Republicans would have a 51-49 majority in the house. If Simonds wins, the house would be split 50-50.
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