More than a week has passed since the 2012 election (though Florida’s vote count extended well beyond November 6th), and Allen West has still lost his U.S. House seat.
The tea party favorite and Republican congressman from Florida went to court for a second time this week to contest his defeat at the hands of first time candidate Patrick Murphy. West claims errors in the counting of votes in his congressional district call his narrow loss into question.
First, a Palm Beach County judge rejected West’s demands that both voting machines and ballots be impounded. Now, a St. Lucie judge has rejected his demand for a recount.
Murphy’s campaign issued the following statement Friday:
“Once again, Congressman Allen West’s political stunts have been dismissed by the courts. Instead of admitting defeat, Allen West wants to keep counting votes until he gets the outcome he desires. That’s not how elections work and that is not how the law works,” said Murphy for Congress campaign manager Anthony Kusich. “Patrick is ready to put the campaign behind him and move forward with addressing the challenges facing the people of the Treasure Coast and Palm Beaches, first and foremost of which is getting Florida back to work.”
The St. Lucie judge said that the West campaign had not established sufficient evidence to warrant a recount of early voting ballots.
Last week, a judge in Palm Beach County dismissed West’s first lawsuit saying that, “the law is clear…courts should not get involved in the election process.”
Patrick Murphy has been certified twice as the winner of 18th Congressional District of Florida and holds a 1907 vote lead over Allen West, which is well outside of the mandatory .5% recount range.
The Florida Democratic Party released the following statement after the judge’s ruling:
“Allen West may not like that he lost this election, but this does not change the fact that the people of Martin, St. Lucie and Palm Beach have democratically elected Patrick Murphy as their Representative in Congress. The votes have been counted, re-counted and certified twice to the state — and Patrick Murphy has won this election beyond the margin of a recount. It is time for West to stop wasting the taxpayer’s time and money and let Patrick Murphy focus on the job he was elected to do and the people he was elected to represent
West’s campaign has written to the Florida Secretary of State requesting a review of the election. Prior to the judge’s ruling, his campaign manager, Tim Edson, issued a statement saying, “if there is this much discrepancy for early and absentee ballots, just imagine how inaccurate the counts might be for all precincts on Election Day. As we have said from the beginning, we are simply seeking an accurate and fair count of all votes so that we may preserve the integrity of the voting process for the citizens of District 18.”