Republican David Yancey wins lottery-style drawing in tied Virginia state House

RICHMOND, Va., Jan 4 (Reuters) - Republicans appeared to maintain control of Virginia's House of Delegates on Thursday after their candidate won a dramatic, lottery-style drawing to resolve a tied race, but the losing Democrat said she might challenge the results.

As cameras clicked, state elections board officials displayed slips of paper printed with the names of Republican incumbent David Yancey and Democrat Shelly Simonds to a packed room in Richmond.

The papers were then rolled into new film canisters and placed in a blue-and-white ceramic bowl from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts before elections board Chairman James Alcorn drew Yancey's name and declared him the victor.

The win gives Republicans a 51-49 seat advantage when the legislature's session starts on Wednesday, letting them determine the House speaker and committee chairmen.

The tie-breaking draw - Virginia's first since 1971 - was unprecedented because of its impact on the House, board Vice Chairwoman Clara Belle Wheeler said.

"This has never been done before for the longest-running, oldest legislative body, if you will, in the New World,” she said after the drawing.

At least 32 states call for a random drawing to resolve some types of elections, such as municipal races. Other states leave the decision to the legislature or require a runoff.

Simonds told reporters she was weighing her options, raising the prospect of a second recount as allowed by law.

"At this moment, I am not conceding," she said.

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Yancey would not be seated in the case of a recount. But Republicans would still control the House by a 50-49 margin, despite Democrats' massive gains in Virginia's statehouse elections in November.

Yancey, prevented by a winter storm from attending the drawing, said in a statement, "The election is behind us, the outcome is clear, and my responsibility now is to begin the work I was re-elected to do."

The random draw was the latest twist after a recount showed Simonds beating Yancey by one vote for the 94th District seat in southeastern Virginia. A court later ruled that a disputed ballot should be counted for Yancey, creating a tie.

Republicans also control the state Senate. Democrat Ralph Northam is to be sworn in as governor on Jan. 13.

A second House race remains in dispute. Voters filed a federal lawsuit over the election in the 28th District, where a Republican won after at least 147 ballots were found to be assigned to the wrong districts.