VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Election Day may have been almost a week ago, but the work continues to tally all of the votes.
At the Municipal Center on Monday, election officials continued counting provisional and mail-in absentee ballots.
There are about 2,000 provisional ballots and about 1,300 mail-in ballots left to count, according to Virginia Beach Electoral Board Chairman Jeff Marks.
"Today is a real crunch time. That's why we're really doing a lot of work today. We'll be here late tonight," Marks said.
Marks, a Republican, and his Democratic counterpart, Dave Belote, make up two-thirds of the Virginia Beach Electoral Board. They say many of the provisional ballots are people who utilized Virginia's new same day registration law.
Election officials have spent the past few days vetting the addresses people put down. "[Election officials] have made sure that they actually live, or the address they put is legit. I would say out of the same day registrations, 80-90 percent of them are legitimate," said Belote.
In Virginia Beach, three local races are separated by under 200 votes and could be impacted by these final numbers.
The closest is the Virginia Beach School Board race in District 10 between Kathleen Brown and Kim Bentley.
Brown has a 179 vote lead or 1.62-percent.
"We're making sure the process goes smoothly and let me tell you I think the voters are wiser than we give them credit for. This new ward system is working out very well," said attorney Gary Byler, who is representing Brown.
Bentley told News 3 he is monitoring the process to make sure all the votes are counted.
In the sixth district race for city council at the Oceanfront, Worth Remick has declared victory over three other opponents, including incumbent Linwood Branch.
The race is separated by 195 votes. Branch told News 3 on Tuesday he is conceding the race.
A losing candidate can request a recount in Virginia if they lose by under one-percent. If it's under a half-a-percent, the locality pays the cost of the recount. Otherwise, it's up to the candidate/political party.
Election officials say they're not sure if the results will change with the final numbers. They have until 5 p.m. Tuesday to finalize the numbers and then the State Board of Elections will meet to certify on December 5.
