The Allen West recount saga is still ongoing in Florida. West has filed a complaint with the court and final results are expected to be announced Friday. From the campaign:
The St. Lucie County Canvassing Board met on Sunday, November 11, 2012 for the stated purpose of recounting “all ballots cast during early voting.” This “refeed” was not conducted pursuant to Florida’s automatic recount statute, but rather as part of the canvassing process. The Canvassing Board, however, re-fed only ballots cast on three days during the early voting period. This limited, partial re-feed – not conducted pursuant to any statute – uncovered significant errors in the initial tabulation of votes. Nearly 1,000 votes disappeared from the count, and neither the Canvassing Board nor the Supervisor provided any explanation for this selective recount. Despite publicly announcing a hearing for the purposes of re-feeding all early votes, counsel for the Canvassing Board advised publicly that “Tallahassee” recommended counting only those specific three days – all without providing information as to who advised a selective re-feed or the basis for doing so.
It stands to reason that if the remaining early votes were to be recounted, additional errors would be uncovered and the tabulation of votes revised accordingly. Until these remaining early ballots are recounted, however, the Canvassing Board has arbitrarily applied differing counting standards to similarly situated ballots. The erroneous decision of St. Lucie County to “re-feed” only some of the early votes cast in this election violates the Florida Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection to voters.
In addition, the County has violated both the Florida Open Meeting Law, Florida Sunshine Law and the Florida Constitution by meeting behind closed doors and without providing the required notice to the public.
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If things don't work out in West's favor, he has an open invitation to run for Congress again in Georgia, his home state.
In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Republican Party chairwoman Sue Everhart said she'd love to welcome West back to Georgia.
West, the Journal-Constitution reports, is an Atlanta native.
"I would be glad to have him come back to Georgia and at some point run here," Everhart said. "I would certainly try to help him because he has done his job. The way he ran his race didn't in any way interfere with the job he did. He ran as a Republican, a conservative Republican."
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