(Washington Times) – Republican Congressman Allen West’s campaign is
ready to “go to war” to get a recount in the Florida 18th Congressional
District race. The latest twist to emerge from the ongoing vote count –
in some precincts there are more ballots than voters.
Preliminary, unofficial vote totals were filed today in the neck and
neck race between Mr. West and Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy. The
Murphy campaign has already declared victory, but the numbers have not
been officially certified and the count goes on. The West campaign
believes that they are close to the .5% vote margin that will trigger an
automatic recount under Florida election law.
The vote count has been marked by controversy. Poll watchers accuse
local election officials of incompetence, intimidation and possible
fraud. The latest twist is that in some precincts of St. Lucie County
there appear to be dozens more ballots being counted than the number of
voters. The West campaign is demanding St. Lucie County Supervisor of
Elections Gertrude Walker release the voter poll books that show how
many voters actually showed up on Election Day to validate the count.
“What we are saying is, open your books!” a source close to the West
campaign told The Washington Times.
The West team is “ready to go to war to get the recount,” according
to Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, a volunteer lawyer for the West campaign
speaking in an unofficial capacity. They are conducting a
precinct-by-precinct statistical analysis of 18th district election
results going back to 2006 to compare to the 2012 results. Evidence of
dramatic shifts in voting patterns this year could provide a road map
for follow-on investigations into possible vote irregularities.
Questions also persist regarding the military absentee ballots in
Palm Beach County. Observers were banned without explanation from
watching the ballots being opened. They were permitted to observe the
counting process, however there was no way to know whether the absentee
ballots that were produced were the same ones that were opened, or if
all the ballots were produced.
Lacking a transparent chain of custody of the military ballots it is
impossible to validate that the votes cast by servicemen and women
overseas are fairly and accurately being counted.
Local election officials have contributed to a climate of hostility and
suspicion throughout the vote count process. “They have created
reasonable suspicion to the point where we don’t feel comfortable,” Mr.
Shapiro said. Election oversight is intended to maintain the integrity
of the voting process. Ideally it would be a cooperative, transparent,
bipartisan effort that seeks legitimate outcomes. But this vote count is
far from ideal.
Meanwhile St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections Gertrude Walker
has gone to ground. No one is answering the phones at her office. She
will not answer her cell phone and her voice-mail is full. She has hired
an attorney, who has also been incommunicado. If there is another side
to the story it has yet to be told.
UPDATE: An hour after this report was posted the St. Lucie County
Canvassing Board agreed to an entire early-voting recount starting
Sunday at 7 a.m. Most of the election-day problems with the vote count
were among the early votes, including possible duplicate vote counts or
over-counting. This recount will involve approximately 30,000 ballots.
Read more at washingtontimes.com
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