Voters were still waiting in line to vote nearly four hours after the polls had officially closed in Virginia.
Democratic strongholds like Fairfax County and Prince William County and more evenly matched counties such as Norfolk, Virginia Beach, and Chesapeake both saw dwindling lines of voters who had been waiting to vote since before the polls closed at 7 p.m. The Associated Press captured photo of increasingly testy exchanges between Virginia residents who missed the 7 p.m. deadline and poll workers.
The State Board of Elections paused the release of election results earlier in the evening in order to not “unduly influence” those still in line. At that juncture, Mitt Romney had a double digit lead over President Obama. Now that lead has dwindled down to just one point.
The race for Virginia’s 13 electoral votes is still as razor thin as the pre-election polls indicated; but given the leanings of many of the precincts still left to report, Obama has some reason to be optimistic.
Morgan Whitaker