| RICHMOND, Va. – The Virginia House Democratic Caucus issued the following statement from communications director Katie Baker calling out Delegate David Yancey for breaking recount rules in a desperate effort to steal the election after Delegate-elect Shelly Simonds was declared the rightful winner by both Democrats and Republicans in HD-94:
“David Yancey is like the Grinch who stole the election, desperately struggling not to be pulled under by the blue wave of citizens demanding change across Virginia.
“The recount process worked the way it was supposed to work, with both a Democrat and a Republican appointed by each campaign working together to review every ballot that the machine could not read. Every Democrat and every Republican signed a statement affirming that the final result was accurate, and since there were no ballots on which the parties disagreed, the meeting of the Circuit Court was supposed to be a formality. House Republicans even issued a press release conceding both the seat and their majority.
“But the next day, the Yancey team decided to suddenly spring a surprise ballot in court, changing the rules midstream after a Republican observer claimed he had doubts after the fact about a decision he had made. In any race in which a candidate loses by one vote, it should be no surprise that there are regrets and second-guesses on the losing side.
“As long as Republicans are changing the rules, there were other ambiguous ballots that could have been re-litigated. However, our motion to be afforded the same opportunity was denied. This is a subversion of the process by a losing candidate who won’t let go of his power ‘like a snarling dog that won’t let go of a bone.’* We believe that when the judges have a chance to consider this again, they will make the right choice to ensure the integrity of the recount process, which would otherwise be broken for all elections to come.”
*Please see the Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial from which we are quoting. |
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