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Spotsylvania clerk won't handle contested votes THE LAW

Spotsylvania Circuit Court clerk recount process defined

By DAN TELVOCK

Date published: 11/22/2007

Spotsylvania County Circuit Court Clerk Paul Metzger, who is seeking a recount of his Nov. 6 election loss, won't have contact with the voting printouts that his office is required to safeguard.

Attorneys representing Metzger and the winner of the election, Christy Jett, discussed the recount process during a hearing yesterday in Spotsylvania Circuit Court.

According to state law, Circuit Court clerks are required to secure the paper ballots or digital voter printouts in a locked vault. In Spotsylvania County, voters use touch screens to cast votes. The machines then print the results on what looks like long cash-register receipts.

Metzger voluntarily declined to participate in the safeguarding process. Spotsylvania Circuit Judge Harry T. Taliaferro III designated Metzger's chief deputy clerk, Cynthia Jessup, as the custodian of the election records.

Local Electoral Board officials placed the printouts, absentee and provisional ballots in sealed envelopes, and then placed the sealed envelopes in sealed envelopes.

"I don't have any contact with election materials at all in this instance," Metzger said after the hearing. "There is no way to tamper with these materials without altering the seals."

Mark Gardner, Jett's attorney, said he didn't object to Jessup handling the records.

"I was satisfied that the papers are secure and there is ample protection in place," Gardner said.

This recount is the first ever for a local Spotsylvania County race.

Jett won the general election by 63 votes, a .43 percent margin. State law allows for a taxpayer-funded recount when the difference in votes cast for the two candidates is less than half a percent.

The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia still needs to appoint two additional judges to join Taliaferro on the recount court.

The court allows each candidate to select an equal number of election officers to conduct the recount. The election officials will open the envelopes and read the results from the printouts and ballots for each precinct. The judges supervise the recount process.

At the conclusion of the recount of all precincts, and both sides inspect the election results, attorneys will make any arguments. The court will then rule on any questioned votes.

Once that process is finished, the court will validate the results and declare a winner.

The recount is set for 9 a.m., Monday, Dec. 17, but a location has not yet been determined.

§ 24.2-802. PROCEDURE FOR RECOUNT In preparation for the recount, the clerks of the circuit courts shall (a) secure all paper ballots and other election materials in sealed boxes; (b) place all of the sealed boxes in a vault or room not open to the public or to anyone other than the clerk and his staff; (c) cause such vault or room to be securely locked except when access is necessary for the clerk and his staff; and (d) certify that these security measures have been taken in whatever form is deemed appropriate by the chief judge.

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Date published: 11/22/2007