CHARLOTTESVILLE - Tom Perriello went to sleep last night ahead of U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Rocky Mount, by less than 1,000 votes. He woke up this morning trailing behind the six-term incumbent by about 300 votes. But by this afternoon, Perriello was back up by 30 votes. And then 31.

And who knows where the election in the 5th Congressional District is heading. The vote is changing by the hour, according to the count being reported by the state Board of Elections. Corrections made to the total in the 5th this afternoon are coming predominantly from Nelson, Greene and Lunenburg counties.

The latest change made just minutes ago: Perriello picked up a provisional ballot vote in Nelson County's Montebello precinct.

The Board of Elections Web site is showing Goode with a 144 vote lead a bit ago, after a recalculation involving Lunenburg County -- and a provisional ballot for Perriello added in Prince Edward County. Goode had led by 445 votes earlier this morning, after he trailed by about 2,000 votes shortly after midnight last night.

Both candidates spoke to the media this morning and both offered the similar stance that at this point they're sitting tight waiting to get an accurate and complete vote count. And both kept the option of calling for a recount on the table.

"This is a tight election," Goode said. We are pleased to be ahead. We are optimistic that when every valid vote is counted we will prevail."

Goode volunteer John Scofield said that the campaign expects the numbers to shift up and down with the canvas today, but generally that if you start out ahead in canvassing you expect to end ahead.

Goode did express concern about provisional ballots that have been filed, and said election officials need to verify whether those voters presented valid identification and were voting at the correct precincts. "There's an attorney sitting in the office right now," said Goode, a lawyer himself.  "Without going into all the specifics, there's some question about the provisional ballots and whether they complied with Virginia law."

For example, he said he'd heard that Appomattox had already disqualified two provisional votes.

Goode also described his Tuesday night, particularly the reaction when results from the board of elections shifted dramatically late in the evening.

"We listened to the returns throughout the evening and knew that the race was really close," Goode said. "Then when all of a sudden he got a spike of over 2000, several persons in the office, one in particular, looked into it and found what he thought was the discrepancy. He contacted the Danville registrar's office and they gave him the correct numbers."

Goode said he's not been in contact with Tom Perriello's campaign. He said he wants to wait until canvassing is complete before any sort of recount may be considered.

"We just want a fair vote count, and we are optimistic that at the end of a vote count we're confident we'll prevail," Goode said.

Perriello was optimistic this morning as he addressed a handful of volunteers and media at his campaign office.

"We need to take a deep breath and make sure every vote is counted," he said, adding that "we have to do the first count before we can get a recount," he said.
The Albemarle County native is placing his hopes in votes that have yet to be counted, like provisional ballots. Those using provisional ballots tend to be African Americans and young voters, where Perriello has seen strong support, he said.
Perriello said his main focus today is to get all of the votes counted and to go around the district to thank volunteers. He continues on to his Bedford campaign office at 1:30 p.m. before heading to the Danville office at 3:30.

Earlier this morning, the board of elections posted information that the computer system used to tabulate the votes "went down at midnight and changed totals" in eight precincts in Danville.

The board of elections could not be reached for comment this morning.

The problem was reported by Danville Registrar Peggy Petty, who also could not be reached for comment this morning.

In Virginia, there are no automatic recounts, and only the presumptive losing candidate can ask for a recount and only in cases where the difference between the apparent winner and loser is not more than 1 percent of the total votes cast for the two candidates.