as you can read in this Washington Post story, the State Board of Elections, the state Board of Elections has certified Herring as the winner by 165 votes.
A couple of things to note from the story:
The state Board of Elections on Monday certified Democrat Mark Herring as the winner of the Nov. 5 election for Virginia attorney general, even as the board chairman raised questions about the “integrity” of the vote tallies.
All boards of elections in Virginia, including at a local level, have a majority of Republicans because the current governor is a Republican.
The board voted unanimously to certify the results, but Chairman Charles E. Judd said he was doing so “with question.”
“I’m concerned about the integrity of the data,” he said in brief remarks from the dais in the meeting room in a state office building. “I’m concerned about the lack of uniformity, that there be no differences in any of the localities in how votes are counted.”
This of course is a reference to Fairfax County. But you could throw out all the Fairfax provisional votes and Herring would still win. And I do not think either the Board of Elections or the legislature is about to mess with the most populous by far jurisidiction (of the 134 Counties and Cities in Virginia - holding 1,118,602 of the Commonwealths 8,185,867people, according to
Quick facts from the US Census) by challenging or throwing out its votes, in part or in whole.
The burden is entirely on Republican candidate Mark Obenshain. He will ask for the (free because of the narrow margin) recount, which no one realistically expects to change the results. Then he will decide if he wants to go nuclear and challenge the results in the state legislature. I tend to think that will not happen.