Another day, another prime piece of evidence we can all use if someone says “my vote doesn’t matter,” to argue that every vote absolutely DOES matter. See below for the video from “Breaking Through News” about how only ONE VOTE out of 2,800 cast separated the top two candidates (Ronnie Campbell and Jimmy Ayers) in the HD-24 GOP nomination contest yesterday.
Also see below for Jimmie Ayers’ statement about how he “did not concede this race [last] evening” and is “officially requesting a recount of all the ballots cast” to be “undertaken and completed within the next few days.” According to 6th Congressional District Chair Jennifer Brown, they are currently “trying to figure out the process” and “best way to handle this,” but that House Speaker Kirk Cox has issued a statement that he doesn’t agree a recount would be appropriate. But then the Roanoke Times reported this morning that “House of Delegates Speaker Kirk Cox said Sunday morning that a recount would be the ‘best way to resolve’ a dispute over the close results of a firehouse primary in the 24th House District.” So…who knows what’s going to happen here, but stay tuned!
P.S. The “Breaking Through News” report also notes that Republicans cast four times as many votes as Democrats in their respective nominating contests yesterday in HD-24. So that’s not good…but also not surprising in this deep-red district (Ed Gillespie won it by 31 points over Ralph Northam in 2017).
According to second-place finisher Jimmy Ayers:
I want to thank all the citizens of the 24th Legislative District who participated in the Republican primary election today. I know I speak on behalf of all candidates when we say how much we appreciate your time and effort on our behalf today.
The results of today’s election are, in truth, as close as they can possibly be. The vote tally this evening indicates that I trail my opponent, Ronnie Campbell, by just one vote. This is one vote out of more than 2800 votes that were cast today in 8 voting locations across this legislative district. In light of such an apparent narrow margin, I did not concede this race this evening. I am officially requesting a recount of all the ballots cast. The committee has a duty to ensure that each election is carried out in a fair and reasonable process. For the sake of election integrity, the committee has an obligation to recount an election as close as this one.
I have notified the Republican Party of Virginia and the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates of this request. I would anticipate that such a recount could be undertaken and completed within the next few days.
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