Update 9:30 a.m. July 22: Due to a conflict in availability of election officials, this recount has been rescheduled from July 31 to Aug. 1. The story has been updated to reflect the new date.
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The recount in one of the most watched and expensive primary battles nationwide this year will take place Aug. 1 at localities across Virginia’s 5th Congressional District.
Goochland County Circuit Court Chief Judge Claude Worrell set the date at a brief preliminary hearing Thursday afternoon, a week after Rep. Bob Good, R-Farmville and the chairman of the powerful House Freedom Caucus, formally requested a recount in the GOP primary, which he lost last month to state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland County, by a mere 374 votes out of 62,792 cast.
At the onset of the 45-minute hearing, Worrell denied a motion by McGuire’s campaign to dismiss Good’s recount petition. “Mr. Good has met all the basic requirements for a recount to begin on July 31, pending availability of the other two judges,” Worrell said.
Under Virginia law, a recount court — which presides over the entire process — must consist of three judges: the chief judge of the circuit court where the recount petition is filed and two additional judges appointed by Bernard Goodwyn, the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia.
In this case, Goodwyn selected Judge Christopher Clemens of Salem and Judge Christopher Papile of Newport News. Neither was present at Thursday’s hearing.
Also absent was McGuire, who earlier in the day returned to Richmond with Gov. Glenn Youngkin from the RNC National Convention in Milwaukee in order to attend a special session of the state Senate. He flew back to Wisconsin later in the afternoon, hoping to attend former President Donald Trump’s nomination speech, said Sean Brown, a consultant with McGuire’s campaign.
Good, however, squeezed into a front row seat of the packed courtroom shortly before the hearing started at 3:15 p.m. He declined an invitation from his attorney, Brad Marrs, to sit next to him at the counsel’s desk. Marrs is a partner with Marrs & Henry in Richmond.
McGuire’s campaign was represented by Caleb Acker, an associate in Holtzman Vogel’s litigation and compliance practices.
Good’s campaign filed his petition two days before the July 12 deadline and eight days after the election was certified by the State Board of Elections. McGuire was served a copy of the petition on Friday.
Under Virginia law, the localities involved cover the cost of a recount when the margin of victory is 0.5% or less or the candidate who petitioned for the recount is declared the winner. But because McGuire led the incumbent by 0.6%, Good had to fundraise to pay for the recount, which Worrell said will cost an estimated $96,500.
Recounts paid for by the candidate are rare in Virginia, because of the high cost and because they rarely change the outcome of elections.
Good said in an email to his supporters earlier this week that his campaign is seeking a “complete recount,” including a hand-count and paper ballot match to the reported machine results.
“Our desire is to identify any mistakes, correct any malfeasance, and ensure that the ultimate result reflects the true intent of every legal and legitimate participating voter. Everyone should want the same thing.”
Good further underscored that he still believed that the majority of Republican voters in the district continue to support him as their representative.
“I believe that my nomination would give us the best opportunity to hold this seat in November. And I believe that I can best help President Trump win Virginia. This is why this recount challenge is so important,” he said in the email.
Worrell on Thursday ordered that the recount take place in each of the district’s 24 localities, where local election officials will have to re-tabulate the ballots. He also advised local registrars to start preparing.
“Because of the scope and size of the 5th District, we estimate that this will take from one hour in a city like Charlottesville to up to 10 hours in a place like Charlotte County,” Worrell said. The work is set to begin at 7:30 a.m.
The court will further determine all details related to the recount, such as transportation and delivery of election materials and voting machines, and testing of machines. In addition, Worrell will set the number of recount officials and approve the officials suggested by the parties, as well as confirm recount coordinators and security measures.
Worrell said his detailed order will be available by Monday.
Prior to the recount, all participating localities are required to program their voting machines to return or set aside ballots with overvotes, undervotes or write-ins.
These set-aside ballots, as well as any ballots not accepted by the scanner, will be hand-counted. The recount team will also hand-count any ballot that was hand-counted on Election Day.
Under Virginia law, each party to the recount is entitled to have one observer per recount team. The observer may stand behind or sit to the outside of the recount officials as they work and may only watch and take notes.
Observers must have an unobstructed view of the recount officials’ work, and they may not handle ballots, election materials or recount materials. If an observer has a question, it must be directed to the supervising recount coordinator without disturbing the proceedings.
If the recount team fails to agree on a ballot’s validity, the ballot will be challenged and handed to the court for adjudication. In this case, Worrell ordered that all contested ballots will be transported by sheriff’s deputies to the Goochland Courthouse to be reviewed by the recount court.
“This is a relatively straightforward process,” Worrell said.
Once the recount is completed, the court will certify the total results. If the recount changes the result of the election, the winner of the recount will be issued a certificate of election.
The GOP primary in the 5th District was Virginia’s closest congressional race since the 11th District congressional race in the 2010 general election, when Democrat Gerry Connolly defeated Republican Keith Fimian with 49.2% to 48.8% of the vote.
After easily winning reelection two years ago, Good became vulnerable when he endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president a year ago, drawing Trump’s ire. But despite his return to the Make America Great Again fold after DeSantis ended his campaign in January, and the continued support from most elected party officials in the district, he failed to convince a majority of Republican voters that he deserved a third term on Capitol Hill.
Trump’s endorsem*nt of McGuire in May sealed the deal for many Republicans in the district.
In a brief interview after Thursday’s hearing, Good said that he was glad that the recount is finally underway. “We just want to make sure that the ultimate result reflects the true intent of all legitimate and legal participating voters,” he said.
“There were some things that didn’t make sense to us, when looking at the results initially, so we just want to take a second look and see what the result is,” Good said, declining to elaborate further.
“I’m not going to get into the particulars, some of them have been publicized. We’ll let those be adjudicated as they are brought forward to the judges.”
