Recount Starts, but Without Va. Ballots

Deeds activists dashed out of the courtroom with cell phones pressed to their ears, calling campaign headquarters in Richmond to report the challenges they had raised. They said they hoped that Deeds's attorneys would ask the court to order every ballot recounted in each precinct where even one vote was not counted.

McDonnell activists were close behind them, calling their campaign headquarters to report their challenges to the Deeds challenges.

But after waiting several hours for instructions, the Deeds observers said campaign headquarters told them to drop all challenges.

"We're not going to enter court for optical scan ballots," said Mark Bergman, a Deeds spokesman. "It's based on the evidence we have in our hands and the lateness of the hour."

But Bergman said challenges will be raised today when the judicial panel in Richmond convenes to address questions raised during the recount.

"I wish this was a full recount, but it was only a reverification and a checking of the paperwork," said Robert Moses, vice chairman of the Loudoun County Democratic Committee.

J. Randall Minchew, chairman of the Loudoun County Republican Committee, argued that running the ballot tapes through the optical scanners would only increase the risk of human error.

Elsewhere in the state, the recount may have picked up a few votes for McDonnell.

Initial results from a few places where the votes were counted by hand show that the margin widened by 32 votes, said John Phillippe, a McDonnell spokesman. Even in Virginia Beach, the only locality in the state where punch-card ballots are used, there were few disputes under rules spelling out when hanging chads and other abnormalities are to be counted, he said.

The victor will take office Jan. 14, and both have been preparing for the transition. Deeds and McDonnell are former prosecutors, and each has served in the Virginia General Assembly for 14 years. The men largely agree on public safety changes, including efforts to strengthen punishments for sex offenders, but they disagree on some social issues. For example, McDonnell is a leader in the state's antiabortion movement, and Deeds believes abortion should remain legal.