Lawsuit filed to force recount in Allen West’s congressional race

By   /   February 4, 2013  /   3 Comments

REDO: A voter group says the public deserves to review recount records in the county which suffered ballot problems and eventually led to the defeat of U.S. Rep. Allen West.

ST. PETERSBURG — Calling attention to one of the closest November congressional races nationwide, the Houston-based voter interity group True the Vote announced on Monday that it will be filing a lawuit to force an independent review of the election which cost Republican Allen West his seat.

The complaint, filed in the Southern District Court of Florida on Sunday, aims to completely review all records and recounts in the race for the 18th Congressional district between Democrat Patrick Murphy and West.

“This dramatic recount was an extraordinary example of how our elections can suffer systematic failure,” said True the Vote president Catherine Engelbrecht. “We run the risk seeing episodes like this becoming ordinary if citizens do not demand answers and hold election officials accountable. The American people own the voting system – we have the right to ask tough questions when we witness the failure of one of America’s core functions.”

True the Vote filed the lawsuit against Gertrude Walker, the supervisor of elections in St. Lucie County, who ordered a recount after key voting machines malfunctioned and early votes had to be hand counted.

It would be a week before Murphy was declared the winner by less than 2,000 votes, but uncertainties remained as election workers claimed to find hundreds of early votes which had not counted in the final tally.

TRUE THE VOTE: Engelbrecht’s organization has revealed multiple cases of voters casting ballots in two states in the same election

West conceded the race on Nov. 20, nearly two weeks after Election Day, but not before filing his own lawsuit to force a recount.

“My clients are demanding that Walker immediately allow an in person public inspection of all records relating to the election in Florida’s 18th Congressional District between Allen West and Patrick Murphy,” said Michael Barnett, the Florida lawyer aiding TTV in their lawsuit.

Contact Yaël Ossowski, Watchdog.org’s Florida Bureau Chief, at Yael@Watchdog.org and follow him @YaelOss

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  • http://www.facebook.com/lana.urquhart.9 Lana Urquhart

    Please do something about this fraud!!!! Our votes get played with all the time but when they screw it up right in our faces and no one does anything then the people no longer have a vote.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Loren-Blalock/100000372570567 Loren Blalock

    Get over it Allen! The people have spoken and you ain’t it, eh. Trying to pull 2,000 votes out of your magical hat only continues to give Florida a bad name for election stupidity to think that somehow somebody missed someone else’s vote? Sore losers never prosper so get on with your professional life and stop sulking over politics. Thank you! See what I mean? You got this poor lady all in a panic over nothing by making her believe our votes don’t count. Yes, they do!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001252230649 Frances Campbell

    the election of 2012 will go into history as the most corrupt in the history of of our republic. it was not just allen west who lost an election to fraud. the greatest frauds occurred in swing states who were not permitted to have voter id protections. voting machines that were rigged–busloads of young activists all with the same address and utility bills voting in yet another state and all voting for the dear one. we will soon find ourselves in a dictatorship regime if the voting laws are permitted to be flaunted. the dear one has violated the constitution so often and the eunuch congress and senate does nothing to uphold the law of the land. hey there all of you young, bedwetting, progressive statists–be careful of what you wish for–you just may get it and it will not be the utopia you thought you were getting.. it will be a combination of every despot in history–stalin,hitler,mao,chavez. no more freebie goodies and you will work at hard labor and your degree that you fully borrowed and frittered your time on psychology or sociology will be worthless. you too will be expendable.