A group of recounters get some help filling out the paperwork as they recount the ballots for Virginia’s 94th District. (Joe Fudge/AP)

VIRGINIA VOTERS were not buying what Republicans were selling in off-year elections this fall, the result being that control of the state's House of Delegates, firmly in GOP hands for nearly two decades, now rests on a random drawing to determine the winner in a race for a lone district seat, which a state court ruled Wednesday is a dead-even tie.

The court's decision is dubious, to say the least. Reversing the results of a recount by state elections officials conducted a day earlier, a panel of three judges awarded a single disputed ballot to the GOP candidate, thereby evening the tally at 11,608 votes. State law says that in the event of a draw, the winner is determined "by lot" — a coin toss, or a name picked from a hat — although the loser can then seek another recount.

Whatever the outcome, the shift in the balance of power in Virginia has been titanic. Having entered the November elections holding 66 of the House's 100 seats, Republicans are now scrambling to emerge with just 51, and even that is in jeopardy.

In a state that has tilted increasingly toward the political center for years, the bill finally came due for Republicans, who have moved simultaneously and insistently to the far right by seeking to impede access to abortions; throw up obstacles to voting by minorities; and widen the state's already lenient laws on firearms ownership and safety.

Certainly, many left-leaning voters who flocked to the polls were motivated by their distaste for President Trump. Yet Republicans would be kidding themselves if they believe their own out-of-the-mainstream politics didn't contribute to the tidal wave that swamped them in the commonwealth.

When lawmakers convene in Richmond next month, they should take heed of the voters' loud-and-clear message. Exit polling showed that voters statewide were particularly exercised about health care — 2 in 5 said that was the issue that mattered most to them, more than twice the number who identified any other issue. And no wonder: Even as more than 30 other states, including Republican-dominated ones, expanded Medicaid under Obamacare, Richmond Republicans refused to follow suit. By doing so, they have denied health insurance to some 400,000 struggling, working-class Virginians.

Given that the GOP retains control over a handful of state legislative seats in Northern Virginia, Republican lawmakers might also consider the potential cost of blocking desperately needed additional funding for Metro. In his final budget, outgoing Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) has proposed an even-handed package of regional taxes and spending shifts that would yield $150 million in new funds annually for Metro. By obstructing a financial rescue package for Metro — as some GOP lawmakers have threatened to do pending ill-defined reforms in the transit system — Republicans will only remind Northern Virginia that they are indifferent to the region's priorities.