A recount confirmed yesterday that Democrat Tom Perriello defeated Republican Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. and will be the new representative in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District. Goode gained 18 votes in the two-day recount but still trailed by 727 votes. The win will give Democrats a 6-to-5 edge over Republicans in Virginia’s U.S. House delegation in the new Congress. Perriello will be sworn in Jan. 6 to represent the district.

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.

Stacey L. Hailey is proof that every vote counts—so long as they are counted. The incumbent town councilman in the Campbell County community of Brookneal lost a race for re-election on Nov. 4 by three votes. If the margin had been two votes, Hailey said he could have demanded a recount. And that, says Hailey, is the reason why a federal judge should count military absentee ballots that are now the subject of a lawsuit.

A federal judge ruled yesterday that the State Board of Elections violated federal law by mailing absentee ballots to military personnel overseas too late for them to return the ballots in time to vote. U.S. District Judge Richard L. Williams said he would not fashion a remedy himself but leave it to the U.S. Department of Justice and the State Board of Elections to come up with a plan that would prevent such mishaps in future elections.

The State Board of Elections today certified the results for the 5th District Congressional race between Virgil Goode and Tom Perriello, with Perriello netting 158,712 to Goode’s 157,967, a 745-vote difference.