Eastern friday morning. Join the discussions. Next, we are in richmond, where the virginia board of selections determines the winner of one of the states have house seats, the 94th district. The election ended in a tie after a recount and court ruling. 1705, theseished in were decided by taking a name at random. Good morning, everybody. Please come back, we sure enjoyed the attention. Are we all set . Everybody all set . Call to order, the meeting of the Virginia State board of elections on january 4, 2018. We have one item on our agenda this morning. Were here to conduct a drawing to determine the winner of the house of delegates in the 94th district. Ms. Simonds, i see you are here this morning. If you wish to say hi to the crowd [laughter] i do not believe mr. Yancey is here this morning, as is his right. I believe he and his contingency have been caught in snow. They were in the northern newport news area and tried to get somebody from the fredericksburg area, so they advised us they will be about 30 minutes late. Is that not right . I think we have had an update. We have a local representative here. Mr. Alcorn excellent. Thank you. Youre welcome to have a seat in front row. As everybody knows, voting is the civic sacrament of democracy, and this election has shown the importance of every vote and power of one single vote. This election will certainly be a reminder for everybody that every vote counts as we encourage all eligible virginians to participate in the election. I would like to provide background as to how we arrived here today to explain the process before the drawing. Virginia held a general election on november 7, 2017. Among other offices, this included the 100 house of delegates seats. This Board Certified results on that certification recorded 11,601 votes for ms. Simonds, 11,591 votes for mr. Yancey. Mr. Yancey then filed for a recount. The recount was held on december 19. At the end of the day on december 19, the recount recorded ms. Simonds with a onevote lead, 11,608 to 11,607. The following day, the Recount Court held a hearing to rule on all questioned ballots and to certify the recount results to the board of elections. That hearing ended with a recount tie, 11,60711,607. The state board of elections then scheduled a drawing for december 27. On december 236, ms. Simonds filed a motion for reconsideration of the Recount Court. This board delayed our drawing so the court would have time to reconsider that request. Our goal is that elections should reflect the will of the people. A drawing to determine a winner of elections, while legally required, is an action of last resort. Therefore, questions about any election should be resolved before any drawing. Yesterday, the court denied that request. The election, therefore, remains a tie of 11,607 votes apiece. Today this board will draw the winner of the race. The code of elections declares that the state board of elections will determine by law who should be elected. I would like to explain process we will use for the drawing. This board conducts multiple drawings each year to set the ballot order, should democrats or republicans go first on the ballot. We typically only have one or two reporters show up. We have a few more this morning. We will use the same process to determine the winner of this election. For the drawings, we print slips of paper with each candidates name on them. We will then insert them into film canisters and seal the canisters. We will then place them into a bowl, stir them around, and pull out the winner. I will draw the first canister, then vice chair wheeler will draw the second canister. I will open first canister, pull out the name, show it, and we will declare that person as the winner. Vice chair wheeler will then open her canister and show the other name. We draw both canisters and show both names to display that both names were equally available for the drawing. There has been a fair amount of interest in what ball we would use for this drawing. [laughter] we had been using a glass ball for many years and most recently a cardboard box. I wanted something that was more appropriate for the importance of todays drawing, so i asked the Virginia Museum of fine arts to find us a ball made by a virginia artist. A person from the Virginia Museum of fine arts will tell us about the ball. I am delighted to be here today on this occasion and bring the ball. The ball is by steven glass, a virginia artist. He has been a potter at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Studio school since 1982. The exterior of the glass, we have a wax resist process which shows off the beautiful white color on the blue background. The interior is a red oxide. Mr. Glass says this represents the sky on the outside and the earth on the inside. I would like to read a quote from steven. He is delighted that the ball was selected. It was selected from the studio. We have an operating studio at the studio school. We also do hand melting, and this was sitting on a shelf, recently produced by steven in early of december 2017. This is from an actual practicing studio. Steven says, clay vessels like boats carry cargo, the cargo of ideas and opportunities. I feel it is a fitting vessel to select the winner of this election. Mr. Alcorn thank you. We will now proceed with the drawing. Secretary mcallister, will you please prepare the canisters. Ms. Mcallister yes, mr. Chairman, and i want to ensure that these are brandnew canisters from amazon, no marks. They have been inspected by each member of the board. Shelly simonds. David yancey. Mr. Alcorn madam vice chair, will you give the ball a stir . [laughter] cook in the kitchen. Ok. There you go. Mr. Alcorn i will draw one canister. Madam vicechair, will draw the second canister. The winner will be the first canister. Madam vicechair, will you pull your canister. The ball is empty. The winner of House District 94 is david yancey. Ms. Mcallister and, the second name for the other candidate, shelly simonds. Mr. Alcorn i therefore move that pursuant to virginia code section 24. 2674, that david yancey is that newly elected delegate from House District 94. Is there a second . Second. Mr. Alcorn there is a second. All in favor say aye. The motion passes. Will you please distribute the certificate for signature . Ms. Mcallister who has the blue pen . Thank you, maam. We have Legal Counsel from the attorney generals office. He provides us with a blue pen so that we know we have all signed. Mr. Alcorn thank you. Madam vice chair, and madam secretary, i believe you would like to say a couple words. Ms. Wheeler a couple of words. Today, we have witnessed an unprecedented event in the history of the commonwealth of virginia. We pulled a name out of a bowl to name a delegate, which was last done in 1971 in a tie vote. This particular draw also will determine the speaker of the house, the number of people on committees. This has never been done before for the longestrunning, oldest legislative body, if you will, in the new world. We can thank the former members of the General Assembly for giving us the code of virginia with the outline that chairman alcorn has given us. We have a process. We have free, fair, legal elections in virginia because we have a process in law that tells us what to do. This board, this local election Board Certified elections. That means they say the number of votes that are provided are true and accurate depictions of the way people voted on election day. If someone wants to contest that election or ask for a recount, the code of virginia provides how that can be done after the election is certified. We all have said many times, probably everyone in this room, that every vote is important. Never more than on this day in this election in november do we see that every vote is important. Voting is a very serious thing. We have all gone to preelection parties. We have gone to postelection parties. But on election day, we all need to remember her to be careful how we mark our ballots. Several months ago, we required that all ballots in virginia be paper ballots, so that if in the unfortunate circumstance we have to have a recount or a contest, we have something to see. We know the intention of the voter by looking at the ballot, not just allowing for a tape that comes out of the back of an electronic machine. This is wise that was begun by the General Assembly a few years ago, and we completed it. I think we are all glad we had a paper ballot rather than a set of tapes. That said, it is very important for each of us, when we market our ballots, do it correctly, do it with thought. As an old former math professor said, sometimes you have a slip of the chalk. Sometimes you make a mistake when you are marketing your ballot. All you have to do is give your paper ballot to the election official in the room, and that official will give you a new ballot, spoil the old ballot, and you can start over. But make sure you fill in the little circle appropriately, that you only vote for the number of candidates you are entitled to vote for in that election. These are things we all need to remember when we come to vote. We want all voting processes in. W want all voting processes in virginia and all members of the electorate be treated uniformly. Another reason for having paper ballots in every precinct. Every voter is given a paper ballot. The machines may vary, but the ballots are the same. Everyone is treated exactly the same, and i think this board has worked really hard and will continue to work hard to make sure that we have uniformity in elections in virginia so when there is a contest or a dispute or a recount, we can do it in a i want to say genteel in a genteel and legal fashion. So i want to thank all the members of the Election Community who worked really hard to get the four recounts done, the judiciary who sat and heard cases, and the members of the press who have given the Public Information that they need to know. Thank you. Mr. Alcorn madam secretary . Ms. Mcallister yes, mr. Chairman. I would like to thank mr. Yancey and ms. Simonds to run in this election. It is truly unprecedented, as we all know, and for it to be so divided. It is so important that each and every one of us vote, that it is so important in our community, not only in virginia, but in the entire country. We know the voting processes are just so essential. And so much has been said of late about the voting processes in our nation. I want to commend those who want to run for elections because it is so important we have the integrity to make sure our system works. 00000000000000i would like to join our vice chair in commending all the individuals she talked about going through the judicial process and the Election Community, and, you, the press, because you need to get the story out there. 2018 it is going to be a pivotal year. I admit this state board of elections, we worked in a very nonpartisan way, but a bipartisan way, and that is the way it should be. And having said that, by picking out this out of a very momentous bowl is an interesting way to decide election, but it is the people who vote that makes sure that happens in the future. I encourage those individuals of the commonwealth and throughout the nation to make sure that your vote counts. Thank you, mr. Chair. Mr. Alcorn thank you, madam secretary. Thank you for those remarks. That concludes our business for the day, and i move that we adjourn for the day. Is there a second . Second. Mr. Alcorn i have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Mr. Alcorn we are adjourned. [no audio] saturday, American History tv on cspan3. Thank you to the american intorical annual association d. C. , live coverage a 30 a. M. To 5 00 p. M. Eastern. Join us as historians and scholars talk about 1968 civil rights, watergate, and the rise of partisanship, commemorating civil war constructions in national parks, and the birmingham Civil Rights National monument. Live coverage of the American Historical Association annual meeting saturday on American History tv, on cspan3. Today at the white house, President Trump met with Republican Leaders in the senate for the first time in 10 years for a long time. They discussed immigration policy, including possible renewal for daca arrivals. Our cameras were in the room for the start of the meeting. Here is a look