The State Board of Elections voted Friday to certify Del. Lynwood W. Lewis Jr. (D-Accomack) as the winner of a Senate special election by just nine votes, and his Republican foe made clear he would ask for a recount. Lewis and Wayne Coleman (R), the owner of a Norfolk shipping company, squared off Tuesday in the contest to fill the Hampton Roads-based seat of Lt. Gov-elect Ralph Northam. The outcome of the race, and the Jan. 21 special election to succeed Attorney General-elect Mark Herring (D), will determine which party controls a Senate that had been split 20-20. Lewis’s edge of nine votes — .04 percent — entitles Coleman to ask for a government-funded recount.
“In the days to come I will be requesting a recount,” Coleman said in an e-mail to supporters, asking for contributions to cover his legal fees.
This recount will be less complicated than the statewide one completed last month in Herring’s race for attorney general. But it could still take at least two weeks to complete, leaving Northam’s seat vacant in the interim. (Northam officially resigns from the Senate Saturday, when he will be sworn in as lieutenant governor.)
Full Article: Recount looms as Democrat certified winner of Va. Senate special election by nine votes – The Washington Post.