Republican Rep. Allen West said on Tuesday that he had filed a complaint in a Florida circuit court challenging the final tally of his race – in which he lost re-election by 2,442 votes.
If West’s request is granted by the court in St. Lucie County, a preliminary injunction would be issued ordering election officials to recount early votes in Florida’s 18th Congressional District,
Fox News reports.
The results would not be certified until the process is complete.
The West campaign contends that an unusual swing of votes on Election Night propelled Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy to victory, Fox reports.
Fox reported that it could not reach the court to verify the filing on Tuesday afternoon. The lawsuit names as defendants Florida Secretary of State Dan Detzner and Gertrude Walker, the county’s supervisor of elections.
West is a first-term Republican congressman and a favorite of the Tea Party Patriots.
While officials on Saturday issued a final tally in Murphy’s favor, they said the margin of victory was above the threshold for a recount, Fox reports.
But election officials have acknowledged that a problem with computer memory cards had occurred in voting machines in St. Lucie County. They had agreed to recount ballots cast from Nov. 1 to 3, Fox reports.
But the West campaign has argued that because of the malfunction, all the early votes cast from Oct. 27 to Nov. 3, should be recounted.
“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,” the campaign said in a statement reported by Fox.
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