Democrat Charniele Herring, who was certified the winner of yesterday's extremely tight special election in the Alexandria area, was blocked from taking a seat in the House of Delegates this afternoon.
The House convened at noon at the state Capitol for the legislature's annual session. Minutes later, representatives of Republican candidate Joe Murray filed a petition for a recount in the race. The state Board of Elections had ruled Murray lost by 16 votes.
"There are enough question marks that the election does in fact hang in the balance," House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem) said. "It is extremely important that we make sure that if someone is casting votes on this floor, they are in fact the elected representative."
Democrats argued that the margin of the election should not matter, and that anyone certified by the state Board of Elections should be seated. The motion to seat her lost by a vote of 41 to 54.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/14/AR2009011401405.html
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
