Recount in 5th won’t include absentees

A three-judge panel overseeing the 5th Congressional District recount has rejected a request to count 70 late-arriving absentee ballots cast by U.S. troops overseas.

The recount in the race between Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., R-5th, and Democrat Tom S.P. Perriello was held yesterday in each of the 5th District's localities. The results will be presented to the judges today in Albemarle County Circuit Court.

The State Board of Elections previously certified Perriello as the victor by 745 votes. Because Perriello won by such a small margin, Goode was allowed to request a taxpayer-funded recount.

The campaigns of both Goode and Perriello had asked the recount court to include the 70 military absentee ballots, which local elections officials did not mail out until Sept. 19 and did not get back until after the 7 p.m. deadline on Election Day.

Both Goode and Perriello said the votes should count, even though they would not change the outcome.

The panel of judges, however, denied the motion yesterday.

This month, a judge in Richmond ruled that localities across Virginia violated a federal law, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, by failing to mail out 4,750 absentee ballots to active-duty military personnel by the Sept. 19 deadline. The judge, however, added that the military ballots need not be counted as they would not affect the outcome of any race.

In a statement yesterday, Goode's campaign criticized Perriello for only offering his "faint support" for counting the disputed ballots.

"The courageous men and women who cast these ballots have fought hard in support of our right to vote in free and fair elections," Goode said in a statement. "If only Mr. Perriello had been as strongly for counting the ballots in the court as he had been in the press, perhaps the military votes would now be counted in this election."

In a court filing by Perriello's attorneys, Perriello's campaign asked that the ballots be counted. But he also noted that 61 of the late-arriving military ballots were mailed out late because the voter did not request an absentee ballot until after the Sept. 19 deadline.
Contact Brian McNeill at (434) 978-7266 or .