Roanoke’s mayoral election recount has been set for Dec. 19.
The recount was requested by candidate David Bowers two weeks ago.
Bowers, a Republican, held the lead on election night by 19 votes. That lead quickly dwindled as more votes were counted over the following days, and Vice Mayor Joe Cobb, a Democrat, was declared the winner by 59 votes after all votes, including more than 1,200 provisional ballots, were counted in the week after the election.
Details of how the recount will be handled were determined Thursday during a hearing in Roanoke Circuit Court.
On Dec. 18, accuracy testing will take place to ensure that the scanning machines are counting ballots properly.
Judge David Carson, acting chief judge in Roanoke Circuit Court, and Judges Chris Papile and Scott Flax will oversee the recount. Papile is from Newport News, and Flax is from Virginia Beach.
Roanoke city attorney Tim Spencer said during the hearing that Nicholas Ocampo, the city’s director of elections and general registrar, has said that the recount would require the use of eight scanning machines, 16 people operating scanners and four people hand-counting ballots.
Ocampo said the recount should only take a day.
Bowers has said that he thinks there were “contradictions, imperfections and irregularities” in the election, but Ocampo said in a news release that he and the officials in his office are dedicated to administering an “honest, fair and secure election.”
Cobb said in an earlier statement that the elections office “diligently followed secure procedures and verified and counted all ballots in certifying the election results” and that he stood by the outcome.
In a statement on Thursday, he said: “I am cooperating in all respects with this process, and I very much look forward to its conclusion and the opportunity to serve the citizens of Roanoke.”
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 paid for by the city of Roanoke.
Asked last month if he would accept the result of the recount, Bowers mentioned the possibility of contesting the election.
