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The
lottery-style drawing is the next step after a recount that at
one point showed Democrat Shelly Simonds beating Republican
incumbent David Yancey by one vote for a seat in Virginia's
House of Delegates.
A victory by Simonds would shift Republicans' one-vote control
of the 100-seat House of Delegates to a 50-50 split with
Democrats, forcing the parties into a rare power-sharing
arrangement.
But there is no guarantee that the drawing at the state
elections board in Richmond will end the fight over the 94th
District seat. Under state law, the loser could request another
recount or mount a legal challenge.
"Given the stakes, further litigation would not be a surprise at
all," said Geoffrey Skelley, a political analyst at the
University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "It's a gigantic
mess."
The deadlocked race occurred during Democrats' massive gains in
Virginia's statehouse elections in November. The wins were part
of the party's first big wave of political victories since
Republican President Donald Trump won the White House in 2016.
Virginia law provides for resolving tied elections by lot.
Officials are under pressure to resolve the issue before the
legislature convenes next Wednesday and elects a speaker, who
makes committee appointments.
Simonds had appeared to win a recount, but a three-judge panel
ruled that a disputed ballot should be counted for Yancey. The
decision left the candidates tied with 11,608 votes each in the
southeastern Virginia district.
After judges on Wednesday rejected a bid by Simonds to
reconsider their ruling, she called on Yancey to abide by the
drawing's result. In a statement, Yancey said he would follow
the process laid out in state law.
Republicans control the state Senate. Democrat Ralph Northam is
to be sworn in as governor on Jan. 13.
At least 32 states call for a random drawing to resolve some
types of elections, such as municipal races. Other states leave
the decision to the legislature or require a runoff.
A second race in the Virginia House also remains in dispute.
Voters filed a federal lawsuit over the election in the 28th
District, where a Republican won after at least 147 ballots were
found to be assigned to the wrong districts.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Colleen
Jenkins and Leslie Adler)
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