Saturday, November 16, 2013

V For Void-etta

Adam Serwer reminds us that Republicans in Virginia's state legislature may simply decide to throw out the razor-thin 164 vote victory of Democrat Mark Herring for state Attorney General:

Herring is currently ahead of Obenshain by a follicle–the current official count states that Herring has 164 more votes than Obenshain out of more than two million cast. A recount is all but guaranteed and litigation seems likely. But even if after the dust clears Herring remains in the lead, under Virginia law, Obenshain could contest the result in the Republican dominated Virginia legislature, which could declare Obenshain the winner or declare the office vacant and order a new election
If they can find a hook to demonstrate some sort of irregularity, then there’s nothing to prevent them from saying our guy wins,” says Joshua Douglas, an election law expert and professor at the University of Kentucky College of Law. “There’s no rules here, besides outside political forces and public scrutiny.” 
An election contest is a specific post-election procedure for disputing the official outcome of an election. Different states have different rules for election contests–some put them in the hands of the courts, others in the hands of the legislature. Obenshain couldn’t simply contest the election out of the blue. He’d have to argue that some sort of irregularity affected the result. Still, Virginia law is relatively vague in explaining what would justify an election contest, and historical precedent suggests that co-partisans in the legislature are unlikely to reach a decision that hurts their candidate. 
“History shows that contests in the legislature are generally more politicized than if they’re adjudicated in the judiciary,” says Edward Foley, a professor at Moritz College of Law. That applies to both parties–but it’s Republicans who have the majority in the Virginia General Assembly. The Virginia state senate is evenly split, but Republicans have the majority in the state house. A spokesperson for Obenshain didn’t respond when asked directly if, after exhausting all other avenues, Obenshain would pursue an election contest.

Considering Republicans have declared voting for Democrats as irregular enough to warrant restrictions on voting in pretty much every red state, I absolutely expect Virginia Republicans to throw out the result.  We'll see how much damage they'll take doing so, but my gut feeling says if the result stands as it is right now, Republicans will step in to disenfranchise an entire election and declare that a Democrat winning a close race is grounds enough to void the the whole deal.

I'll be keeping a close eye on this one.

5 comments:

Craig Moffitt said...

You got to love how these so called moral paragons of the Republican party do not seem to consider Democracy or equal treatment under the law to be values.

RepubAnon said...

Shades of "The Long ARM of Gil Hamilton" by Larry Niven.

David Atkins said...

As a graduate of Tech I am entitled to point out that this gee-whizz demonstration is precisely the kind of mental masturbation that has destroyed the intellectual foundations of the Institute. We no longer teach the ability to conceive vast projects and organize the labor that brings them into reality. Now it's all stupid trickery for the bedazzlement of the rubes.


Wherein vast fortunes are to be made, I hasten to concede, but at what cost?

David Atkins said...

Really? Al From is the savior of the Democratic party, because there is no moderate Democratic center that can bridge the gap and provide workable solutions?


Has this guy been sleeping under a culvert for the past twenty five years?


The concern that drips from the page, it corrodes my flesh like aqua regia.

lahru said...

hair on fire, meet reality. we'll be fine just give it time. rome wasn't built in a day.

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