Virginia delays statewide certification of election results, citing Richmond office's COVID outbreak

The State Board of Elections on Monday delayed certification of the state’s election results until later this week, giving additional time to the Richmond voter registrar’s office, which is dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak.

State elections officials said they had local certifications in hand from Virginia’s other 132 cities and counties and they expect to certify the state results later this week.

Chris Piper, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections, told the board that “Overall Virginia had an incredibly successful election” with no major issues reported on election day.

The meeting came as President Donald Trump continues to make unsubstantiated claims about widespread voter fraud in his loss to former Vice President Joe Biden.

Virginia’s election, coming during the pandemic, drew an unprecedented 2.8 million early voters, 1.8 million of them voting in person and 1 million through mailed ballots. Nearly 1.6 million people voted on Election Day.

Virginia elections officials and legislators already are looking at potential changes to how registrars report results.

Some Virginians were confused because Republicans dominated votes cast on Election Day, but Democrats pulled ahead in a number of contests late that night once localities reported votes cast in advance that skewed Democratic.