(Lynchburg) — The incumbent says he’ll call for a recount in the Fifth District Republican Congressional Primary. And he’s calling some alleged Election Day irregularities into question.
Election Day totals gave first-term state senator John McGuire a 300-vote edge over Lynchburg Republican Bob Good out of more than 62-thousand votes. Canvasses and late mail-in votes are being tabulated and they’ve added a couple-dozen votes to McGuire’s margin.
Canvasses will be finished Monday with the results going to the State Board of Elections. They’ll meet next week to certify the results. That’s when Good could ask for a recount.
In a letter to supporters this weekend, Good said he needs to raise $100,000 for the recount. Good says his advisors are looking into whether data manipulation was used to affect the vote totals. He says there is proof that there was Wi-Fi access inside some of the polling places.
He also questioned why three polling stations were shut down temporarily because of fire alarms. “There were 3 fire alarms that went off at voting precincts on election day, all at about the same time, that resulted in those polling places being shut down for approximately 20 minutes,” Good said in a weekend mailing. “We don’t know what activity took place inside those polling places while everyone was evacuated.”
Good also claims Albemarle County began their canvass two hours earlier than scheduled. Good claims they told McGuire’s campaign so he could have a representative, but they didn’t tell his campaign. He also claims Buckingham County officials are fighting efforts to review and assess results.
Good says he’ll call for a full forensic audit, including a hand-count and reconciliation of all paper ballots with voting machines.
If the margin of victory is within .5%, the state would pay for the recount. On Election Day, the margin was exactly .5%. But with McGuire picking up a few votes during the canvass, the margin is currently just wide enough to where Good would have to pay for the recount. If the recount changes the result, Good would not have to pay for it.