House District 82 recount set for Dec. 19

Published 5:06 pm Friday, December 8, 2023

A recount of votes cast in last month’s 82nd House of Delegates District race is set forTuesday, Dec. 19, according to a news release from one of the candidates.

Democratic candidate Kimberly Pope Adams requested the recount after results from the Nov. 7 election showed her trailing Del. Kim Taylor, R-Petersburg, by a margin of 78 votes, or 0.27%.

Virginia law allows candidates to seek a recount when the margin separating them is less than 1% of the total votes cast.

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Virginia’s Board of Elections certified the results of the 2023 races on Dec. 4, which show Taylor carrying 14,286 or 50.05% of 28,542 votes to Adams’ 14,208 or 49.78%.

The district includes Surry, Dinwiddie and Prince George counties and the city of Petersburg.

“I will allow the process to take the full time and effort necessary to ensure that every valid vote is counted,” Adams said in her news release. “While I am hopeful of the outcome, I will respect the results.”

“We had a historic win on November 7th, with a close margin — a recount is a legal way to make sure every legal vote is counted,” Taylor said in a Nov. 17 statement  in response to Adam’s requested recount. “We are confident that the results of this election will remain unchanged — upholding our victory and the people’s choice on Election Day.”  

The certified results show Taylor having carried Surry, which accounts for 8.8% of the district’s registered voters, by a margin of 18 votes.

Taylor carried roughly two-thirds of the vote in Dinwiddie and Prince George, while Adams carried Petersburg with a landslide 86% of the city’s 7,549 votes.