01/09/14: A muted voice in Tuesday’s special election

This op-ed appeared in The Virginian-Pilot on the date shown.

IF IT’S a Tuesday in Virginia, it’s probably Election Day. And if it’s Election Day, it might just end in a recount. This Tuesday, both of those were true.

Voters in the 6th Senate District took to the polls to elect a successor to Ralph Northam, who was elected as lieutenant governor in November. As of Wednesday evening, Democrat Lynwood Lewis led Republican Wayne Coleman by a mere handful of votes, less than 1 percent of the votes cast.

That number may change after Wednesday’s canvass, a process whereby election night totals that were reported by each locality are certified to the State Board of Elections. After that, the SBE verifies its own totals and then certifies the election. The Code of Virginia says the SBE certification will come “as soon as possible” after a special election.

Only after the SBE’s certification can the non-winner ask for a recount. Remember, recounts in Virginia are not automatic.

If the difference between the two candidates is less than 1 percent, the apparent non-winner has 10 calendar days from the date of certification to ask for a recount. In addition, if the difference is less than one-half of 1 percent, the cost of the recount is paid for by the localities; otherwise, the candidate requesting it pays for it.

If Tuesday’s election night numbers hold, the cost of the recount will be borne by Accomac, Northampton and Mathews counties as well as the cities of Norfolk and Virginia Beach for the second time in as many months. Legislation pending in the General Assembly would shift these recount costs to the state.

But the takeaway from Tuesday’s margin shouldn’t be that we have another recount looming. Instead, it should serve as a reminder that every vote counts.

Special elections typically have low voter turnout. By my calculations, turnout Tuesday was about 20 percent. That makes this the second-highest turnout for a special election in the past five years. But it should have been higher: The turnout in Norfolk reduced the district’s overall total significantly.

The portion of Norfolk that is within the 6th — other parts of the city are in Senate District 5 or 7 — makes up the largest number of voters in the district, with approximately 58 percent of the total.

The 27 precincts within District 6 typically turn out to vote at higher rates than the city as a whole.

Tuesday, though, nearly 85 percent of those voters stayed at home. Just five of the 27 precincts had turnout in excess of 20 percent. In contrast, turnout in Accomac, Mathews and Northampton all exceeded 26 percent. Accomac led the way with more than 28 percent turnout.

Norfolk voters in the 6th ceded the decision of who should represent us to voters in those three localities. Combined, they accounted for about 53 percent of the votes cast Tuesday.

Note that this isn’t the first time Norfolk has given up its power to decide the outcome of an election. In the 2011 contest for this district, the three counties accounted for nearly 55 percent of the votes cast.

Had Norfolk voters shown up Tuesday, would this election have landed in recount territory? Hard to say. But at the very least, Norfolk would have played a role in proportion to its voting strength.

I know voters have election fatigue; such is the nature of Virginia’s never-ending election season. But as somebody — Woody Allen or Harry Truman, depending on the source — said, “Decisions are made by those who show up.”

We have a problem showing up in Norfolk. We allow others to make the decisions for us.

If Tuesday’s numbers hold, there will be yet another special election. Norfolk voters in the 100th House District are approximately 37 percent of the total voters. It would be nice if they accounted for 37 percent of the votes cast.