As St. Lucie County recount begins, West camp calls it a ‘sham’ and Murphy lawyer raises qualms
by George Bennett | November 11th, 2012
Members of the public watch elections workers feed ballots through scanners in a partial recount of early votes from St. Lucie County
FORT PIERCE — A recount of early votes from St. Lucie County began this morning with lawyers for apparent Democratic congressional victor Patrick Murphy and Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West raising early qualms.
St. Lucie County’s elections office announced Saturday that, because of concerns about the way tabulating equipment uploaded early vote totals on election night, it would conduct a meeting this morning “to recount all ballots cast during early voting.” That would be 37,379 ballots.
But Assistant County Attorney Heather Young began proceedings today by announcing the recount would only cover the final three days of early voting — Nov. 1-3 — because she said those were the only days tabulating equipment had a problem reading memory cards. A total of 16,275 ballots were cast on those three days.
West’s campaign said it was told last week that the problem occurred with the first three days of early voting — Oct. 27-29 — and therefore the recount of the final three days doesn’t address its concerns. West campaign manager Tim Edson said he’d prefer a recount of all eight days of early voting.
“What’s going on today is a sham,” Edson said. “It does nothing to at all to address the concerns we had after being told yesterday they would be recounting all early votes.”
An attorney for Murphy, Sean Dominick, told Young early today that there is no legal basis to recount early votes (state law calls for a recount only in races decided by 0.5 percent or less; Murphy was declared victor by 0.72 percent) and only ballots that were not counted before the election should be counted today.
“To the extent that there are votes that are uncounted, we are all in favor of any vote being counted,” Dominick said to Young.
Young answered that “the only way to do that is to feed all of them because we can’t identify which votes may or may not have been counted.”
Young said she was acting on a recommendation from the Florida Division of Elections.
Young later said that today’s exercise, though described as a “recount” in the public notice from the Supervisor of Elections office, is actually a “re-feed” of ballots. And while national interest is focused on the West-Murphy congressional race, Young said the “re-feed” covers all the races on the St. Lucie County ballot.
Follow updates on the recount at twitter.com/gbennettpost
Tags: bnblogs
November 11th, 2012 at 10:18 am
Dear God,
Please end the madness.
Love Everybody.
November 11th, 2012 at 10:50 am
Allen West is acting like a little bitch!
November 11th, 2012 at 11:01 am
Since a full recount (verification) of all ballots cast in Palm Beach county (136,628) made the difference between a loss and a win there for West – by some thousands of votes – it is logical that a recount in St. Lucie county of 119,038 ballots should be done as well, rather than merely “re-feeding” only 16,275 ballots – just 13.7 percent. Both the closeness of the race, AND the significance difference made by an actual recount in Palm Beach should be reason enough for voters to demand a full recount.
November 11th, 2012 at 11:05 am
P.S. To clarify: The “thousands of votes” (something over two thousand I believe) was not the margin of victory for West, but the difference between the totals before and after the re-count.
November 11th, 2012 at 11:16 am
The Lawyers for Murphy are partially correct in his statement:(state law calls for a recount only in races decided by 0.5 percent or less; Murphy was declared victor by 0.72 percent).” However given the evidence of voter fraud, the recounting of votes from Oct 27th forward is totally justified.
November 11th, 2012 at 11:18 am
West go away for ever!!
November 11th, 2012 at 11:23 am
Hit the road, Jack. Finally, we don’t have to be ashamed of being Floridians.
November 11th, 2012 at 11:26 am
Michael, what is the evidence of voter fraud you mention, details please?
November 11th, 2012 at 11:30 am
West should ask for a complete reconcilliation, not just a recount. They need to match the ballots cast to the people that signed the registers and sent in absentee ballots.
November 11th, 2012 at 11:36 am
@RoseLake, I am unaware of a recount in Palm Beach County. When did that happen?
November 11th, 2012 at 11:42 am
I may be mistaken did I get this wrong: Out of 175,554 registered voters, 247,713 vote cards were cast in St. Lucie County, Florida on Tuesday. Also in the same article 6,000 votes were shifted from West to Murphy. I’m just going by that evidence. If I’m wrong enlighten me I no problem being shown the light. Thank you for your comments in advance.
http://www.punditpress.com/2012/11/breaking-st-lucie-county-florida-had.html
November 11th, 2012 at 11:45 am
The racist right just can’t come to terms that their wacko candidate was voted out. Pack your bags West. Maybe you can go work for Faux Newz. You and Ann Coulter would make a cute couple.
November 11th, 2012 at 11:52 am
Mr. Francotti,
This website (Punidt Press) is a conservative-run website, which would lead most people to believe that this “evidence” is nothing more than fiction rather than actual fact. At this point, it seems that in the news, that any where a conservative didn’t win, the votes have to be recounted because they didn’t believe the will of the people. Why not accept what has been determined already, and move to work to help the citizens of the county/city/state/country? I think that’s what most people want to have happen.
November 11th, 2012 at 12:01 pm
@ one of the 47% – “The racist right just can’t come to terms that their wacko candidate was voted out” That make allot of sense seeing as the candidate is black.
November 11th, 2012 at 12:05 pm
How much more taxpayer money will Allen West waste with his frivolous lawsuits? You lost, dude. Get over it.
November 11th, 2012 at 12:05 pm
@Rose Lake – there has not been and will not be a recount in Palm Beach County. They were simply finishing counting the absentee ballots and provisional ballots until yesterday. No recount.
November 11th, 2012 at 12:07 pm
@Michael – the reason that there were more cards cast than registered voters is that it was a 2 page ballot in St. Lucie County. Every card is a single page.
November 11th, 2012 at 12:09 pm
@tygor1- so you suggest it’s better to just go away then make sure all votes were counted. Sort if like 2000 or with Al Franken? It’s not about not believing the will of the people, it’s about not knowing what the will of the people actually is.
@47% the racist right… Classic. You impress me.
November 11th, 2012 at 12:10 pm
Mr. Rand,
How does it make sense? The candidate Mr West is black and you call the racist right can’t come to terms with their loss a comment that makes sense. Sorry but that sounds very racist for you to say. If their is a racist right in that part of Florida I would believe that they would be Happy to to be rid of Mr West.
November 11th, 2012 at 12:23 pm
It was only %70 turnout in St. Lucie. It was a 2 card ballot. %140 represents the number of cards (2 per vote). The GOP spin machine lied to you throughout the election and continues to feed your ignorance today. Do some of your own research you dittoheads.
November 11th, 2012 at 12:34 pm
As a combat veteran, I sure do wish that the military would cease the practice of just forcing officers – that break the law and military regulations – into forced retirement (with full benefits btw).
If what West did was done by an enlisted man/woman, he/she would have received a court martial and a dishonorable discharge.
The problem is that peeps like West try and use their military service as a selling point – and there are always gullible enough peeps that think that he served honorably.
The taxpayer should NOT pay for a recount is it is not within State guidelines – West should pay for it upfront.
Glad (I hope) we are rid of this dishonorable man.
November 11th, 2012 at 12:35 pm
Rose Lake
THERE WAS NO RE COUNT IN PALM BEACH COUNTY YOUR FULL OF IT!!!
November 11th, 2012 at 12:40 pm
Mr. Francotti,
I was quoting, and responding to ONE OF THE 47%. And that was my point. How can the Right be racist??? Please read his self contradicting comment #12
November 11th, 2012 at 12:40 pm
ian rand
So using your line of thinking we can say there was never any racists in the southern US because all the Plantation owners had Black slaves!!
November 11th, 2012 at 12:47 pm
Melissa. You are right it was not a recount. It was a count that had to be done again. That sounds like a recount (so I erroneously thought it was), but it’s not. Not in the official sense. There were, however, error(s) / problem(s), and a subsequent (re)counting / verifying process – after the initial count – which took a couple of days (Thursday and Friday I believe), after which there was a significant difference in the distribution of the totals. Anyone know about military ballots? I heard they were still not all in, but cannot verify.
November 11th, 2012 at 12:52 pm
@ianrand No using my line of logic there are racist on both sides but to claim the racist right is in itself a racist comment. Everyone is so quick to proclaim the racist right. It gets weary. By the way I get that you were commenting in reference to someone else statement. Sorry for the misunderstanding. And thank you for the clarification.
November 11th, 2012 at 12:59 pm
Hey Obama haters…how does it feel to now be a dreaded minority?
November 11th, 2012 at 1:01 pm
They crying West is doing doing does not say much for his character. His backers, many of whom are veterans does not say much for them. The bigger issue is Military code of conduct which West disregarded and many of his backers must not support. West is a dishonorable coward.
November 11th, 2012 at 1:06 pm
I got no dog in this fight! I look for what’s fair irregardless of race or party affiliation. If there was evidence of voter fraud West deserves a recount. If not he doesn’t. In regards to his service and subsequent discharge from the military can you give me more specific information.
November 11th, 2012 at 1:08 pm
@Rose – nothing was counted ‘again’ in Palm Beach County. Everything now has been counted exactly once. What was counted Thursday and Friday were absentee ballots and provisional ballots that had not yet been counted, so naturally those would change the totals. NOTHING has been counted more than once in Palm Beach County.
November 11th, 2012 at 1:09 pm
And Rose, you are correct that some military ballots will still be coming in – the deadline for overseas ballots is 11/16. But there aren’t many of these still outstanding – certainly not enough to make a difference.
November 11th, 2012 at 1:10 pm
@Termack I don’t hate the man. I disagree with his politics in many ways. As far as minority the split in the vote was about 1.3 percent not much of a majority and certainly not a mandate.
November 11th, 2012 at 1:19 pm
If West is so concerned about taxpayers, maybe he should stop wasting taxpayer money on his false hopes….I know I voted against him!
November 11th, 2012 at 1:27 pm
That may be so, about the provisional and absentee ballots, but there was a problem with some other kinds of ballots as well (I believe some that could not be read by the scanners). How many times ballots are counted is not *necessarily* relevant, so long as everyone’s vote is counted. Any method of verifying the actual result is the only thing that counts, IMO. That is the only purpose of recounting – or any other process of verification. Whatever the process – the point is that some verification process made a difference in Palm Beach county. There was a preliminary win/loss reversed by means of it. That is why it seemed to me logical that some verification process should take place in St. Lucie county as well.
November 11th, 2012 at 1:47 pm
They can count all they want…he will not make up the votes to win!! Thank goodness….I did not vote for him!!!
Bye Alan West!!!!!!!!!
November 11th, 2012 at 2:10 pm
To the immoral left wing for calling us racists: First of all Mr, West is black and he deserves respect. Second, a recount is called for irregularities. A County where the number of people who voted for Obama surpassed the number of registered voters, Are you telling me that dead people did not cast a vote for Obama and red Patrick Murphy?
Simply put: THE DEMOCRATS MARXISTS LENINISTS STOLE THE ELECTION!
November 11th, 2012 at 2:17 pm
@MelissaWinchester I’m from California we also had two cards per ballot. But our candidates names were only on one page in one spot. Are they counting the ballots times two or are they counting the number of votes Murphy got and West got? I do believe that if there are enough irregularities in a vote there should be a recount irregardless of the minimum difference between the two candidates verses the exact amount of ballots filed on election day.
November 11th, 2012 at 3:21 pm
@Nemo You state: “First of all Mr, West is black and he deserves respect.”
On behalf of myself and other Obama supporters, I thank you for your respect for our President.
November 11th, 2012 at 3:30 pm
nemo,
Go crawl back under your low income homestead. You are racist, you have proven that over and over LOL!!
There were no irregularities. The only irregularity is West losing!!
Of course in his egotistic mind that couldn’t possibly happen!
The number of votes for Obama did not exceed the number of voters, you just LOST crybaby, get over it!
November 11th, 2012 at 3:32 pm
@Nemo if you have been following my posts I said I do not hate Obama…I disagree with his policies. I didn’t say this for your benefit or other supporters of Obama. This is who I am and how I feel. I have no objection to your support for Obama or anyone else that you choose to. It’s your right to choose and voice how you feel. As it is my right and anyone else who is a citizen of this Beautiful Country. Nowhere else in the world can we agree to disagree without suffering consequences of those actions. Thy living in a third world country and voice an opposing opinion contrary to the particular government. See where that lands you.
November 11th, 2012 at 3:58 pm
@Nemo and anyone else that is discussing here:
concordiamo di non essere d’accordo
November 11th, 2012 at 4:58 pm
@Michael Franciotti – there are 175,554 registered voters in St. Lucie County, and there were a total of 118,649 votes cast in this contest. That is the only Congressional district in St. Lucie County. The report that shows more than 100% turnout in the precincts does not deal with this race in particular, but in the turnout for each precinct. Its calculation is based on the number of registered voters and the number of ‘cards’, or pages – so while it reports turnout as exceeding 100%, that is misleading. But the bottom line is that the number of votes cast in this race is significantly less than the number of registered voters, and also less than the number cast in the Presidential contest (123,301)
You can look at the reports for yourself – they are the Election Summary Report and Statement of Votes cast on this web page http://www.slcelections.com/
November 11th, 2012 at 5:22 pm
They are just trying to keep West out of Congress. Stop this sham of a recount and doit right. What r you afraid of ? That Allen West may have actually won ?
November 11th, 2012 at 5:39 pm
Enuff already !
Go West Al !
And take Joyce The Pastrami Slinger Kaufman with you !
November 11th, 2012 at 5:53 pm
I never read nemo rants. He is as usual, talking out of his azz. It’s not worth it. I am sure that if he had to define what a “Marxist Leninist” was, he couldn’t do it. Another one of those faux newz listening, rushbo, billo believers who can’t get over the fact that mitt the twit didn’t win. And he can’t provide any facts as to the “stolen election” just accusations. Nemo and another frequent lunatic commenter “carol” ought to get married!
November 11th, 2012 at 6:28 pm
For all the clowns saying there were all these irregularities in St lucie county answer me this.
Of all the races on the ballot, and everyone running had someone there representing them, why is it the ONLY canidate who claims there were any irregularities is NUT case WEST?????
Who just happened to LOSE!!!!
WHY IS THERE NO ONE ELSE WHO SAW ALL THESE PROBLEMS WITH ALL THOSE PEOPLE THERE OBSERVING THE ELECTION AND COUNTING OF BALLOTS?????
November 11th, 2012 at 6:47 pm
Bush screwed it up.
November 11th, 2012 at 6:48 pm
The racists are trying to keep a black man from getting a job..Nothing new here.
November 11th, 2012 at 7:05 pm
West will not go away until he has blown the $2million left in his treasure chest on attorney fees. Maybe he should donate it to all the people in St Lucie County that have homes in foreclosure. Or the homeless, or Planned Parenthood. Just go away Allen West please.
November 11th, 2012 at 7:08 pm
The only thing left that is tight about west/murphy race is west’s underwear which he needs to pull out of his crack.
November 11th, 2012 at 7:09 pm
maybe his brain will fall out.
November 11th, 2012 at 8:03 pm
I don’t believe Republican officials would have even recounted anything had it been the Democrat behind in the race.
What happened today was not necessary. The Supervisor of Elections decided to do it because they themselves were concerned about the last 3 days of early voting not being imputed correctly by the optical scanners. So, they addressed that today.
But, they did NOT have to address that today since the numbers still show that we’re outside the recount margin.
I’m sorry, but after all the trouble the Teabaggers went through to suppress the vote and knock good people off the voting rolls, I find it ironic that the craziest of them all is now complaining that it’s the other side doing all the things we know the Republicans have been guilty of doing all along.
A Republican SOE would have never recounted anything or admitted any possible errors. The Dem SOE did have concerns and openly addressed them, and the vote was corrected today more than it was recounted.
November 11th, 2012 at 9:55 pm
Rick Scott and the Republican legislature did everything possible to suppress and dienfranchise voters in this election.
In response the PEOPLE sent them a very clear message!
Largest voter turn-out in State history!!!!
AND numerous stinging defeats for the Republican party!!!
November 30th, 2012 at 4:51 pm
Nice post. Two things I like about the post, one it is straight forward and two it does not attempt to promote anyone’s position particularly. I like this one George.