Thursday, November 06, 2008
Goode, Perriello still in tight race
Tallying votes in the 5th District contest has been hampered by technical glitches.
Marcus Yam | The Roanoke Times
Virgil Goode (foreground) stand amid supporters in front of members of the media Tuesday in Moneta after an unofficial announcement that he had taken the lead in the 5th Congressional District race.
Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times
Tom Perriello speaks to members of the media and his staff at his campaign headquarters in Charlottesville on Wednesday morning. Perriello and Virgil Goode are in a race too close to call for the 5th Congresional District in Virginia.
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Tom Perriello left a Democratic gathering in Charlottesville early Wednesday morning ahead of U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Rocky Mount, by fewer than 1,000 votes.
Perriello learned just a few hours later that his lead was gone and he was trailing the six-term incumbent by about 300 votes.
But by Wednesday afternoon, Perriello was ahead again by 30 votes.
And then 31.
And by press time Wednesday, it's still unclear where the election in the 5th Congressional District is heading. Throughout the day, the state board of elections changed the vote tally for a variety of reasons ranging from data entry errors to the counting of provisional ballots. Most of the corrections came from Nelson, Greene and Lunenburg counties and the city of Danville.
Susan Pollard, the state board's director of communications, said there won't be a final tally until all localities finish canvassing their votes. In the coming days, each individual registrar will check provisional ballots, the number of votes cast against the number reported and a precinct summary, Pollard said. The local registrars offices then submit the totals to the state for certification. The deadline for that isn't until Nov. 24, although the totals may be all submitted before that deadline.
Even then, there's likely to be a recount, though both campaigns said they won't consider that option until the vote count is complete and accurate.
"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 Wednesday.
"We need to take a deep breath and make sure every vote is counted," Perriello said, adding, "we have to do the first count before we can get a recount."
Only the presumptive losing candidate can request a recount within 10 days after the board of elections certifies the vote count, Pollard said. And that request can be made only if the difference between the apparent winner and loser is not more than 1 percent of the total votes cast for the two candidates. The vote difference has been under that 1 percent since the troubles with the vote count started late Tuesday night.
Goode, who has been in state or federal elected office since 1973, spent most of Wednesday in Rocky Mount. Wearing a red and blue "God Bless America" hat, he shifted between his campaign office and the courthouse as his staff worked phones and talked to local volunteers.
Goode expressed 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."
Perriello, meanwhile, placed some of his hope for victory in those provisional ballots. People using provisional ballots tend to be blacks and young voters, among whom he said he's seen strong support.
Like Goode, the Albemarle County native was optimistic Wednesday morning as he addressed a handful of volunteers and media at his campaign office.
"I'm confident that we'll pull off a huge upset in the district and bring about a new kind of politics," Perriello said.
Perriello said his focus was getting all of the votes counted and thanking volunteers. He started in his day in Charlottesville before continuing on to offices in Bedford and Danville.
Perriello's campaign, too, was lining up legal advice.
The roller coaster ride with the vote totals in the 5th District started not long after the polls closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday. As results started coming in, the lead seesawed between Goode and Perriello. The Associated Press called the race for Goode as early as 9:30 p.m., only to "uncall" it just over an hour later.
Then, just after midnight, the state board of elections reported a crush of votes that put Perriello ahead by about 2,000. That left many Democrats going to bed feeling sure of a win -- only to wake and find out the late tally resulted from a computer glitch that changed results in eight Danville precincts.
As registrar staffers keyed in vote totals after the midnight deadline, the computer program used to tally and report the totals shut down, said Danville Registrar Peggy Petty.
When they logged back on, the absentee votes incorrectly took the place of some precinct totals.
"The real votes were there until midnight," Petty said.
Staffers worked until 2 a.m. before heading home without finding a solution.
"We just gave up. Quit," Petty said. "We've done the best we could do. It was very frustrating."
Because the problem was with the computer software, the state will take the issue up with the program vendor, Petty said.
The count seemed to be fixed by Wednesday morning, when the board of election's Web site showed Goode with a lead of fewer than 500 votes.
Although the final precinct was counted at 10 a.m. Wednesday, the total number of votes for each candidate continued to change throughout the day as errors were corrected. The totals shifted wildly as the state board corrected data entry errors, incorrect tabulations, erroneous precinct totals, provisional ballots and forgotten absentee ballots.
"Typically, there'll be swings throughout the day with any kind of canvass, but if you start a canvass and you're up, you expect to end the canvass and be up," said Goode volunteer John Scofield.
But with this political race, it's hard to say where the finish line is going to be. The race was the most competitive in the region going into Tuesday, with Perriello mixing a theme of service with a string of advertising and debate jabs that had Goode on the defensive at times.
Goode, who has been re-elected easily every time he's had competition as a congressman, countered, relying on his homespun past as he painted Perriello as a liberal who was distorting his record.
Now, with the race hanging in the balance, Perriello said he hopes the vote is there to send him to Washington in his first run for elected office.
Goode said he hopes he has survived, and that he has learned from the experience.
"We'll look at our office operation," he said.
janelle.rucker@roanoke.com 981-3149 mason.adams@roanoke.com 981-3253
