Battle Over Contested Virginia House Of Delegates Seat Will Drag On
David Yancey
On the eve of the original name-drawing Wednesday  Democratic candidate Shelly Simonds filed  a court motion contesting a previous decision to count a contested ballot for her opponent  Republican incumbent David Yancey .
 The court  has yet to address the matter  as some of  its  judges are out of town for the holidays.
The turmoil over the seat has dragged on for more than a month. A recount originally proclaimed Simonds the winner by a mere one vote.  Yancey  then won a lawsuit that allowed a previously uncounted ballot to be counted as marked for  him  ― bringing the race to a tie.
Virginia House Democrats have called  Yancey ’s lawsuit a “desperate effort to change the outcome and steal the election” from Simonds.
“The court erred both in admitting the ballot for consideration  which broke the rules of the citizen-led recount process  as well as in counting the ballot for  Yancey   which  according to guidelines from the State Board of Elections  had already been accurately classified as an overvote by both the Democratic and the Republican observers ” House Democratic Caucus spokesperson Katie Baker said in a statement Friday.
On the eve of the original name-drawing Wednesday  Democratic candidate Shelly Simonds filed  a court motion contesting a previous decision to count a contested ballot for her opponent  Republican incumbent [TGT] .
 The court  has yet to address the matter  as some of  its  judges are out of town for the holidays.
The turmoil over the seat has dragged on for more than a month. A recount originally proclaimed Simonds the winner by a mere one vote.  Yancey  then won a lawsuit that allowed a previously uncounted ballot to be counted as marked for  him  ― bringing the race to a tie.
Virginia House Democrats have called  Yancey ’s lawsuit a “desperate effort to change the outcome and steal the election” from Simonds.
“The court erred both in admitting the ballot for consideration  which broke the rules of the citizen-led recount process  as well as in counting the ballot for  Yancey   which  according to guidelines from the State Board of Elections  had already been accurately classified as an overvote by both the Democratic and the Republican observers ” House Democratic Caucus spokesperson Katie Baker said in a statement Friday.