LEGAL NEWSLINE

RICHMOND, Va. (Legal Newsline) -- The recount of the Virginia attorney general's race is officially underway.

The recount began Monday in Fairfax County and the cities of Alexandria and Chesapeake.

The rest of the state will join in counting ballots Tuesday and Wednesday.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, a three-judge recount court is expected to pronounce a winner Friday.

Circuit judges Junius P. Fulton III, Joseph W. Milam Jr. and Beverly W. Snukals were selected by the state Supreme Court to oversee the recount.

Democrat Mark Herring maintains a 165-vote lead over Republican opponent Mark Obenshain.

Obenshain requested a recount in the race last month, after the state Board of Elections certified Herring as the state's next top lawyer.

According to the board, of the 2.2 million votes cast in the Nov. 5 election, Herring received 1,103,777 votes. Obenshain received 1,103,612 votes.

"This morning, we will be asking for a recount in the attorney general's race," Obenshain said in a statement Nov. 27.

"While we certainly would have preferred for the result to be settled on Nov. 5, over the last few weeks we have seen a fluctuating margin that currently sits at 165 votes separating us out of more than 2.2 million votes cast.

"It's the closest race in Virginia history, and as we have seen in other races around the country with margins this slim, this result could easily change when all is said and done."

Obenshain noted that of the four statewide races this century within a 300-vote margin, three have been overturned in a recount.

"The 0.007 percent margin in our race is closer than any of those," he said. "We owe it to the people of Virginia to make sure we get it right."

From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at jessica@legalnewsline.com.