Herndon — According to the results of the Tuesday, Nov. 5 election, Del. Tom Rust (R-86) leads challenger Jennifer Boysko 10,386 to 10,329, a margin of only 57 votes.
Voters who used provisional ballots, where votes are accepted but not recorded until the voter’s eligibility is confirmed, had until Friday to present proof of their eligibility.
According to the Fairfax County Board of Elections, there were 493 provisional ballots cast in the county. As of Sunday, Nov. 10, 136 of those had been accepted and none have yet been rejected.
There is no word on how many of those ballots are in the 86th district, which covers parts of Herndon, Oak Hill and Chantilly as well as parts of Loudoun County.
Currently in Fairfax County, Boysko leads Rust by 96 votes, while Rust has a 153 vote lead in Loudoun County.
All provisional ballots must have been certified and approved by 11:59 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12 in order to count. Once the provisional ballots are counted, the Virginia code states that a recount can be requested by one or both of the candidates.
Boysko said she will not concede the race, and will continue to follow the processes allowed by law.
“There's a specific process involved at this stage and given the close nature of these results, we owe it to the nearly 21,000 voters to make sure that all of their votes have been counted and for election officials to complete their work,” she said.
Rust released a statement the night of the election thanking his supporters for re-electing him, and said he planned on starting his new appointment as chairman of the House Transportation Committee.