The Montgomery County Office of Elections will recount the ballots cast in last month’s Blacksburg mayoral race on Dec. 12, according to the county registrar.
Peter Macedo, owner of Blacksburg Bagels, lost the race to four-term town council member Michael Sutphin by 18 votes, as certified by the state.
Montgomery County Registrar Connie Viar said her office hopes to complete the recount of nearly 11,300 ballots by the evening of Dec. 12 and announce the result the same day. All of the ballots in the mayor’s race will be re-scanned by machine or hand-counted by a team of officers if there are any discrepancies.
Because the margin was so small, Virginia law allows for the losing candidate to request a recount at the county’s expense. Viar did not have a cost estimate as of Monday afternoon, but said costs include paying officers and machine technicians and equipment. Macedo hired the Roanoke-based law firm Williams & Strickler to represent him in the recount process and reopened his campaign donation site to raise money for legal fees.
“I have been struggling so much with the need to spend more money on this aspect of our campaign, because this is not the time of year when we should be spending money on procedural things,” Macedo said in a video to supporters. “But it’s important to me that your voice is heard, and that this process is done correctly — and I truly believe the only way to do that is with legal support.”
Macedo added that, as an independent candidate without the backing of an established political party, learning how expensive the process is has been “a real struggle,” but he plans to document his learnings to share with future candidates.
Sutphin acknowledged that Macedo is within his right to request a recount, and assured supporters that “I will participate fully in the recount and continue to stand by the integrity of our election system and the work of the Montgomery County Office of Elections.”
“I’m grateful for everyone’s support throughout this process, and I remain confident in the outcome,” he said.
On election night, Macedo led with just 46 votes, but several thousand absentee and provisional ballots were still left to be counted. Most of the roughly 2,000 provisional ballots came from precincts heavily populated by Virginia Tech students.
Three other recounts are underway in Virginia, according to the Virginia Department of Elections: a school board race in Fluvanna County, a school board race in the Cunningham District of Rockingham County and a board of supervisors race in Spotsylvania County.