Forget Denmark, something’s rotten in St. Lucie county, Florida
**Posted by Phineas
I mean, with such a well-managed election operation as this, I can’t see why anyone thinks there’s a problem:
Then there is Gertrude Walker, the 32-year-veteran election supervisor of St. Lucie County, who has spent much of the last two weeks explaining why her office completely botched the count. She admitted that her office had acted in βhasteβ in issuing election results, and that βmistakes were made.β Among her mistakes was failing to count 40 of the 94 precincts under her jurisdiction on Election Night β and then counting the other 54 twice. Indeed. On Friday, her office announced it had βdiscoveredβ 304 additional early votes left in a box. None had been counted
(Crossposted at Public Secrets)
But Walker wasnβt available for comment. She has been hospitalized for unknown reasons.
The news was one reason that Floridaβs secretary of state has dispatched a team of experts to audit St. Lucieβs procedures. The St. Lucie Election Canvassing Board voted to approve a complete recount of all the early ballots. It began the recount on Saturday but stopped it at 8 p.m. because the county buildingβs security system was set to be switched on later that night. Some people complained that the alarms have been switched off in the past to allow county business to continue after hours, but their complaints were ignored. The recount resumed on Sunday morning, but it missed the noon deadline to submit the countyβs final returns to Floridaβs secretary of state.
So, on Sunday, the previous resultsβthe ones showing Democrat Murphy aheadβwere sent to Floridaβs secretary of state for certification.
How convenient that this “glitch” means St. Lucie’s returns also cost Rep. Allen West his seat.
Read the rest of John Fund’s article for more on Ms. Walker’s troubling history. Florida has a serious problem with its elections, and owes it to the voters to clean this up.
Addendum: Disappointing news from Legal Insurrection. Thanks to the slow-walking of the recount by Walker’s office, Congressman West may have few legal avenues left and may be preparing to concede defeat. Democrats should remember the warning words of Obi Wan Kenobi.
(Crossposted at Public Secrets)