Fairfax County Electoral Board: “every ballot was accurately counted on Election Day”

The Fairfax County Electoral Board has issued a 33-page report on “Issues Surrounding the Counting of Absentee and Provisional Ballots” from the November 5th election. The report was prepared by prepared by Brian W. Schoeneman (Secretary of the Fairfax County Electoral Board) and Cameron Quinn (General Registrar of Fairfax County). Note that both Schoeneman and Quinn are Republicans, so there shouldn’t be any question of pro-Democratic bias from Mark Obenshain’s team or anyone else.

The bottom line conclusions: 1) “every ballot was accurately counted on Election Day,” 2) “there were no irregularities in the November 2013 General Election in Fairfax County;” and 3) “Fairfax County’s  provisional ballots, when added to the final vote tallies and certified, were not decisive in determining a final outcome in any race within Fairfax County or statewide.” In short: so much for Mark Obenshain having any grounds to contest the Attorney General’s election, at least with regards to anything in Fairfax County. Bummer. 😉

P.S. FYI, here’s the conclusion of the Fairfax County Electoral Board report:

CONCLUSION

Despite the concerns raised by outside observers addressed in this report, the  November 2013 General Election in Fairfax County was one of the most well run in recent memory. Many of the issues and concerns raised by the community in the  November 2012 presidential election had been remedied. Voters were not subject to long lines, and the transition from DREs to optical scan machines as the primary voting device was made without significant incident.

In regards to the 8th District CAP incident, FCEB’s investigation and resolution of the issue make it clear that the errors in the result totals released on Election Night were the result of multiple human errors in tabulation of those results. There were no missing  ballots or missing machines in the 8th District CAP, and no votes in the 8th District were counted after Election Night. The errors were corrected in the canvass, as contemplated  by Virginia law.

FCEB’s handling of the provisional ballot meeting comported with federal and Virginia law, and substantially complied with SBE guidance, as adapted to fit the needs of a large locality. FCEB’s adjudication of provisional ballots was proper, generally followed SBE guidance and standards, and was uniform for all voters.

In short, there were no irregularities in the November 2013 General Election in Fairfax County. Further, any errors discovered were corrected, and the Electoral Board’s handling of the provisional ballot meeting comported with federal and Virginia law, as well as SBE’s guidance, both binding and non-binding. Finally, Fairfax County’s  provisional ballots, when added to the final vote tallies and certified, were not decisive in determining a final outcome in any race within Fairfax County or statewide.