Judge dismisses petition seeking recount in Fairfield District school board race

The Henrico County Circuit Court has dismissed Terrell Pollard’s petition for a recount of the Fairfield District school board election, which Ryan Young won by a 61-vote margin over Pollard in a five-person race.

Pollard, who initially told the Citizen Nov. 14 that he did not intend to seek a recount, later changed his mind after encouragement from his supporters and filed a petition for recount on Nov. 28. But that petition was dismissed Dec. 4 by Henrico Circuit Court Chief Judge John Marshall, who said that Pollard had missed the state’s deadline to request a recount by one day.

Young, who will serve on the school board starting in January, won the Fairfield race with 26.19% of the vote, narrowly beating Pollard, who had garnered 25.87% of the vote. With a crowded field of candidates, the Fairfield race was the most contested of Henrico’s local elections. The remaining three opponents – Tommie Jefferson, Crystal Varner Parker, and Keith Hicks – won 20.02%, 17.56%, and 9.56% of the vote, respectively.

While Nov. 7’s election results were certified by the Henrico County Electoral Board Nov. 14, Virginia law allows candidates to petition for recount within 10 days of the date the election was certified. However, with Nov. 24 being a holiday, candidates were given until the next business day – Monday, Nov. 27 – to request a recount.

Virginia does not allow automatic recounts, but losing candidates may request a recount if the winning candidate won the election by less than a 1% threshold. Young beat Pollard by only 0.32% of the 19,220 votes cast.

“I decided to file for a recount after being urged by supporters,” Pollard said. “With five candidates and such a close margin, I wanted to be certain of the accuracy of the final count. I also thought it could add confidence to the outcome in the minds of voters.”

Young said he was surprised when Pollard requested a recount.

“It was out of left field,” he said.

Pollard first tried to request a recount on Nov. 22, but he was not able to because the circuit court was closed. He said he assumed that he would have more time to file for a recount because the court was closed from Nov. 22 to Nov. 24 because of the Thanksgiving holiday, so he filed as soon as he could on Nov. 28, not realizing the deadline was on Nov. 27.

“I thought the code as written, 10 days after certifying the final count excluding holidays, gave the court discretion in my circumstances to go forward with the recount. The court disagreed,” Pollard said.

Pollard served Young with papers for recount on Nov. 29, prompting Young and the Electoral Board to file a motion to dismiss Pollard’s request on Dec. 1. The circuit court sustained Young’s motion, agreeing with Young’s statement that Pollard failed to file his request within the 10-day period.

While Fairfield’s school board race will not go to a recount, the Henrico County Circuit Court clerk race between Republican incumbent Heidi Barshinger and Democratic newcomer Gray Montrose will, with a recount set for Dec. 11. Barshinger had won the race by a margin of 245 votes out of a total of 106,167 votes cast. This election will be the first race in Henrico since 2015 to go to a recount.

All five candidates in the Fairfield school board race had campaigned alongside and received support from the Henrico Democrats. Young is a consultant and runs a local youth basketball league in the Fairfield District. Pollard is the director of the Henrico Too Smart 2 Start Coalition and the Fairfield District representative on Henrico’s Board of Zoning appeals.

Pollard’s odds initially looked favorable after he won the highest percentage of early votes out of all candidates – 31.17% – while Young only won 17.72%, putting him in third. But on Election Day, nine out of Fairfield’s 22 precincts ended up going to Young, while five precincts went to Pollard.

Pollard said that he had accepted the situation and was supportive of Young joining the school board.

“I wanted to add that I disagree with the court's decision, accept it, and have congratulated School Board-Elect Ryan Young,” he said.

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Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.