As St. Lucie County has reportedly missed the noon Sunday deadline to certify new numbers after a weekend recount of the first five days of early voting, the campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Allen West says more questions have arisen about how the election was conducted.

“Today’s actions cast an even greater cloud of suspicion over the results of St. Lucie County than existed before,” Tim Edson, the campaign manager for the Palm Beach Gardens Republican, stated in a release.

“Consequently, the highly suspect results will be submitted to the secretary of state today -- even though the canvassing board has already admitted they may contain serious errors.

“Once again, Gertrude Walker has proven to be absolutely incapable of executing an accurate and fair election. This election is far from over. We will continue to fight on behalf of all voters in District 18 to ensure a fair and accurate count of their votes.”

Walker was hospitalized last week and didn’t attend the Friday night canvassing board meeting or the weekend refeeding of the five days of early voting through the tabulating machines at the election’s office headquarters in Fort Pierce.

No update has been made on her condition.

According to the Palm Beach Post, the weekend refeed increased Democrat Patrick Murphy’s margin of victory from the 0.58 percent reported by the county on Nov. 10 to 0.65 percent in the district that includes all of St. Lucie and Martin counties and northern Palm Beach County, which spurred Murphy to again declare victory.

“Today at noon, it became clear Patrick Murphy will be officially certified as the next congressman from the 18th Congressional District,” Anthony Kusich, Murphy’s campaign manager, stated in a release. “The voters have spoken and Patrick Murphy is once again the clear winner. It is beyond time to put this campaign behind us and put the interests of the people of the Treasure Coast and Palm Beaches first.”

Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers reported that preliminary results from the recount were forwarded to the state.

St. Lucie County elections supervisor's office had restarted the recount of the first five days of ballots from early voting in the Congressional District 18 contest at 8 a.m. on Sunday, after breaking just after 10 p.m. on Saturday.

The county canvassing board, which had narrowly ordered the recount in the contest between Murphy and U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Palm Beach Gardens, had halted the process of running the ballots through the tabulating machines late Saturday night to give county officials a rest.

Barring further court filings -- judges have advised West that he has 10 days to contest the contest once certified, while attorneys for his campaign have announced they would seek an emergency hearing on the deadline -- the results from St. Lucie County next head to the state.

According to state rules, “Emergency means any occurrence, or threat thereof, whether accidental, natural, or caused by human beings, in war or in peace, that results or may result in substantial injury or harm to the population or substantial damage to or loss of property to the extent it will prohibit an election officer’s ability to conduct a safe and orderly election.”

Florida’s Elections Canvassing Commission, comprised of Gov. Rick Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, meet Tuesday.



Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.