November 29, 2017 10:00 AM UTC

At Least This Isn't Your Election Problem

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• by: Colorado Pols

In another edition of our long-running series, “At Least They’re Not Your Legislator,” we take you to Virginia, where officials are still trying to figure out results in a couple of key races that could decide whether Democrats take control of the State House for the first time in 20 years.

As the Associated Press reports, this is a mess:

Lawsuits, threats and recriminations are flying as the state wrestles with the tricky question of what to do about the 147 voters in and around a crucial district who were given the wrong ballots…

…The Republicans have gone from a commanding 66-34 majority in the House to an apparent 51-49 lead, with GOP candidates clinging to extraordinarily slim leads in three districts. (There were no elections this year for the state Senate, where Republicans hold a majority by just one seat.)

In one of the hard-fought House districts, the 28th, in the Fredericksburg area about 50 miles south of Washington, Republican Bob Thomas leads Democrat Joshua Cole by just 82 votes. But the state elections commission recently found 147 voters in the district and neighboring ones cast their ballots in the wrong district.

Exactly why they were assigned to the wrong districts is unclear, as the registrar responsible died in April. [Pols emphasis] But Elections Commissioner Edgardo Cortes said it was probably an error by a registrar working with limited resources and antiquated equipment. He said Virginia has underfunded its election offices around the state and similar problems could exist in other districts.

Democrats have a deadline later this week to file recount requests in two other close races. It remains possible that the end result could be a 50-50 split in the State House.