David Bowers has filed for a recount in the Roanoke mayoral election, he announced Thursday.
Bowers, a Republican, held the lead on election night by 19 votes, which quickly dwindled as more votes were counted. Vice Mayor Joe Cobb, a Democrat, eventually was declared the winner by 59 votes after all votes, including more than 1,200 provisional ballots, were counted in the week following the election.
At a news conference Thursday, Bowers said he thinks there were “contradictions, imperfections and irregularities” in the election. Melvin Williams, Bowers’ attorney, accompanied him but did not speak on the record.
Nicholas Ocampo, the city’s director of elections and general registrar, said earlier this month that provisional ballots are offered to voters when “further research is required to confirm their eligibility to vote.” Voters who register on Election Day — which has been legal in Virginia since 2022 — receive provisional ballots.
Bowers said that same-day registration shouldn’t be legal and that voters can register before Election Day “if you’re a responsible person.”
In a Nov. 14 statement, Ocampo said that “90 days into this role, I have been inspired by our election officials’ dedication to administering an honest, fair and secure election despite increased scrutiny and heightened pressure.”
Bowers claimed Thursday that there were 200 votes left to be counted, but that he had forgotten where he’d heard that. Ocampo confirmed Thursday afternoon that there are no remaining ballots to count.
“Ultimately, I’m confident in our voting equipment processes and policies throughout this entire election,” Ocampo said Thursday. “We followed state law and federal law to a T. I trust our system and know that it works and the checks and balances that are in place do function at a high level.”
Later Thursday, Cobb held a press conference, where he read a statement thanking and commending election officials, saying they had “diligently followed secure procedures and verified and counted all ballots in certifying the election results.”
“I stand by this outcome,” Cobb said. “It accurately reflects the votes of the people of the city of Roanoke.” He said he’s asked Lichtenstein Law Group to assist him “to the extent necessary.”
He said he does not believe that the recount will affect the ongoing interviews the city council is undertaking to hire a new city manager.
Since the vote totals for the mayor’s race fall within the 0.5% margin permissible by Virginia state code for a locality-funded recount, the recount will be funded by the city of Roanoke.
Previous recounts in Virginia rarely have changed many votes. Virginia Public Access Project records show that only once since 2017 has a recount changed the result of an election in a state legislative race: The 2017 94th House District race resulted in a tie after a recount.
Asked if he would accept the results of the recount, Bowers mentioned the process of contesting the election. When asked if he was planning to contest the election, he said, “I don’t know. We’ll see.”
According to Virginia state law, contesting the election would require Bowers to have objections to Cobb’s eligibility based on specific allegations or objections to the conduct or results of the election accompanied by specific allegations which, if proven true, would have a probable impact on the outcome of the election.
Ocampo said it will take at minimum a full day’s work to recount all 42,586 ballots cast in Roanoke. He said this recount might not take place until mid-December.
