VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WVEC) — The future of three different Virginia Beach city council seats will be decided on recounts.
Virginia Beach Voting Registrar Donna Patterson said she's waiting for a circuit court judge to finalize the recount petitions before the city can determine the date, location, and details of how the recount will take place.
Patterson said she predicts the recount will take place in December and last about a week.
Beach District Councilman John Uhrin was the first candidate to officially file for a recount on Monday. According to the Virginia Department of Elections, businessman David Nygaard is leading Uhrin by 212 votes, which is a margin of only .14 percent.
Uhrin said he believes the races were so close because of the high voter turnout.
"I don’t think that it was necessarily a referendum on my performance on the council by any stretch. I mean we're in a polarized political environment right now and so I think that gets reflected in all the races," said Uhrin.
Candidates who lose an election by 0.5 percent or less can request a recount within 10 business days of the election results. Virginia does not have an automatic recount system.
In response to Uhrin's recount petition, opponent David Nygaard said:
“After weeks of observing the election process behind the scenes, I know our elected officials do an absolutely amazing and professional job. I remain hopeful and I support the councilman's request to make sure every vote is counted. That's the way it should be.”
In another tight race, Brad Martin filed the paperwork needed on Tuesday for a recount. Martin lost to incumbent Louis Jones by .35 percent. Martin said he was motivated to file for a recount because he encountered a clerical error on election night.
"That's what turned our election night sour," said Martin. "We were credited with one thousand votes in a precinct that we didn’t earn and when they corrected that mistake, that clerical error, we went from ahead by 500 to now behind by 500."
Opponent Louis Jones said he had no comment on the recount petition.
Then on Tuesday afternoon, Dee Oliver told 13News Now she too had petitioned for a recount. She lost to John Moss on election night by 347 votes.
"We decided to file because all three of the seats were close and it was recommended that we do it and we carefully weighed all our options and we had decided to go do it this morning," Oliver said. "We’ll see how the outcome is, but it’s the right thing to do with how close all the races have been."
Moss, who holds a narrow .14 percent lead over Oliver, agreed a recount was the best course of action.
"I think that it’s a process and I think people should fully exercise their entitlement in that process. The only one that gains in that is the public," said Moss.
The recount process is paid for by the City of Virginia Beach and paper ballots will be run through machines or hand counted. There is not a current estimate available for the cost of the recount.
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