Allen West Has Lost, But Still Refuses To Concede
As I noted after the election, it was apparent after the vote was counted that Florida Congressman Allen West, who has nothing but an embarrassment from the moment he arrived on Capitol Hill, had lost his bid for re-election to Patrick Murphy after what had been one of the most toughly fought, expensive, Congressional elections in recent memory. Despite the numbers, West refused to concede on Election Night and spent the better part of last week attempt to use legal maneuvers to force a recount, which is only available under Florida law if the margin between the two candidates is 0.5% of the vote or lower. The margin between Murphy and West even in the initial hours after Election Day was well above that benchmark. In the meantime, Florida counties spent the rest of last week counting the remainder of their absentee and provisional ballots. Yesterday, finally, the counting was done, and West now trails Murphy by some 2400 votes. Despite this, the Congressman still refuses to concede:
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Republican Rep. Allen West was defeated by Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy, according to the state’s vote count Saturday, but the incumbent won’t concede.
The state issued complete but unofficial results showing Murphy with a lead of 2,442 votes, or 50.4 percent. That’s beyond the half-percent margin needed to trigger an automatic recount. A handful of overseas and military ballots remain outstanding, but under state law the decision for a recount is based on Saturday’s count.
(…)
West’s campaign insists there are many unanswered questions in the race, mostly centered in St. Lucie County, the only one of three counties in the district that Murphy won. They are concerned that votes were counted twice and have asked to review sign-in books from the polls to ensure the number of voters matched the ballot count.
“We’re simply not going to just walk away from the race until we see that the numbers add up,” West campaign manager Tim Edson said.
West’s only path forward appears to be through the courts. Under state law, he still could contest the election if misconduct or fraud might have changed its result.
Officials in Tallahassee will certify the election results next week, at which point West’s options will be pretty much non-existent. There is no evidence of fraud in this election, and any court proceedings he may file strike me as being only dilatory in nature. West should do the honorable thing and step aside. But, then, this is Allen West we’re talking about so I doubt that will happen.
The good news is that the loser doesn’t have to concede to be the loser.
Until I read this I did not think it was possible to get “honoable” and “West” into the same sentence.
(hope this isn’t a double post, lost connection)
He will have a paid gig on Fox within 90 days.
I’ve seen many a right-wing post that states his loss accounts for left-wing racism. This, from the party that whines anytime someone calls out obvious racism.
90 days, I’d be shocked if it took that long.
Keep f***king that chicken, Allen.
Oh, don’t you know, in the Conservative alternate universe (at least according to my Facebook friends), Allen West really got more votes, and it’s just the Liberal Supervisor of Elections who’s keeping him from claiming the victory that he “earned”. Then again, many of these same people are still absolutely convinced that Mitt Romney really got more votes than Barack Obama too. (rolls eyes)
You are behind Doug. St Lucie county was scheduled to meet this morning to recount the contested ballots. Could be error, could nothing, could be fraud. Of course, only an admitted error found will alter the race.
Sorry after the behavior of the Democrats in the Al Franken election, their complains about Allen West not conceding are the height of hypocrisy .
@Paul L.:
Sorry after the behavior of the Democrats in the Al Franken election, their complains about Allen West not conceding are the height of hypocrisy .
You mean when the Republican refused to accept that Franken had been certified the winner and tied up the matter in court for six months to intentionally thwart the will of the voters and keep the Democrats from having another vote in the Senate, sticking his thumb in the eye of democracy?
Yeah, those Democrats sure are awful. For winning elections.
You mean the election that Al Franken WON? I had no complaints about that whatsoever.
@mantis:
1) Both sides tied that election up in courts. It was in fact the Franken camp that intiated the lawsuits rather than waiting for the standard recount process to complete.
2) Are all election challenges necessarily invalid? Was, for example, Al Gore trying to “intentionally thwart the will of the voters” and “sticking his thumb in the eye of democracy”? Or is it only that way when Republicans challenge elections, something the sainted Democrats would only ever do with the purest of motives.
3) Are you saying there was nothing about that election you considered suspicious? Regardless of the outcome, that election was a shocking display of incompetence on the part of the county election authorities. The fact that four years laters there are still votes that are recorded as being cast but which the ballots were never located for should have cost people their positions. And what are we supposed to do when ballots have been lost?
@al-Ameda:
Except he didn’t win the initial tally, he only won after the extensive recounting process mantis is complaining about.
@Stormy Dragon:
I’m not talking about the recount process and I leave it to the Minnesota people to figure out their election management, but the outcome was certified in January and Coleman tied it up in courts for six months with no hope to win and no purpose except to deny the Democrats a 60-seat majority.
@Paul L.: After eating this apple, I know everything there is to know about oranges.
Bad soldier, bad congressman, bad loser. I sense a theme here…
Really, Doug. So a county (St. Lucie) which reports that 141% voter turnout does NOT make a prima facie case for voter fraud?
Obviously, your hatred for West has overpowered your reason, such as it is.
@James Young:
As one of Florida’s leading political bloggers, who is a conservative by the way, says, there is no evidence of an overvote in St. Lucie County:
@James Young:
A quick visit to the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections web site and you would know that each voter was given two ballots, one with candidates for office and one with 11 ballot iniatives cynically put up by the Republican legislature with the intent of slowing down voters and lengthening wait times. Many voters turned in two ballots , making the number of votes cast greater than the number of registered voters.
Or you can use a “statistic” you probably got from some wing nut web site.
@mantis:
No, the election was not certified until June 2009. Again, you seem to have rather oddly remembered version of what happened, as the January order to certify Franken was issued by federal courts, where as the Minnesota courts were the ones that dragged the thing out for another year. If you truly do “leave it to the Minnesota people to figure out their election management”, then you actually have to take Coleman’s side as his delays were through the election contest process laid out in Minnesota law, where as Franken was the one going to federal courts arguing that Minnesota law can’t indefinitely draw out the seating of the US Senate.
You basically seem to be reconciling to incompatible view points(“election disputes should be resolved by the states” and “Coleman was unlawfully drawing out the election process”) by creating a dogs breakfast of history.
@James Young: Keep retreating from reality dude. Don’t ever let it catch you.
He can’t even leave behind his late 80’s high top fade. Of course he will have trouble giving up his congressional seat.
@Stormy Dragon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Franken#Elections
@Scott O:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_election_in_Minnesota,_2008
Certifying the totals != certifying the election
@Stormy Dragon: You’re right that the state didn’t certify the election till June but I think mantis’ earlier point, “but the outcome was certified in January and Coleman tied it up in courts for six months with no hope to win and no purpose except to deny the Democrats a 60-seat majority”, is valid if not semantically 100% accurate.
Can I ask where you got this from?
From the Wiki link you put up it appears that Coleman was the one that first went to the courts.
Interesting how so many hardcore conservartives seem to hate the judicial system–unless they need it to help them…
stormy:
This is what CNN reported on 1/4/09:
According to CNN, the Secretary of State told them “Franken won.” An election lawyer might care about the difference between “certifying the totals” and “certifying the election,” but “Franken won” sounds a lot like “Franken won.”
CNN then ran this headline the next day:
“Certifies Franken win” sounds a lot like “certifying the election” (even though an official certificate of election had not yet been issued).
You said this:
That’s “creating a dogs breakfast of history.” Franken did wait “for the standard recount process to complete.” Both side waited “for the standard recount process to complete.” But when that process completed and found that “Franken won,” Coleman responded with litigation. The first to sue after “a recount determined Franken won by 225 votes” was Coleman, not Franken. As Scott said: “Coleman was the one that first went to the courts.” This is the key point.
More “dogs breakfast.” It was Coleman who dragged it out, not “the Minnesota courts.” And it was six months, not a year.
Also relevant (1/6/09, shortly after the recount was completed, showing that “Franken won”):
Of course Coleman did lose his “legal challenge to the recount.” As mantis said, he “tied up the matter in court for six months to intentionally thwart the will of the voters and keep the Democrats from having another vote in the Senate, sticking his thumb in the eye of democracy.”
With Republican pols there’s always the same question, “Do they believe their crazy BS, or is it just an act?” Now we know, at least in Allen West’s case, that he really is crazy. Come January, is a sergeant at arms going to have to move his stuff out of his office?
What a bunch of fin idiots. Fact is at one counting of the votes it showed that there are 175,554 registered voters but 247,713 people (dead and illegal) voted. Get a grip “Progressives”. What will you do when the pendulum swings overwhelmingly (and it will)? You will do the whine about corruption. Idiot liberals make me puke.
Explained:
You can also see that explained here:
As someone said recently:
This is yet another example in a very long series.
That’s you.
@Console:
After some soul searching, he will run again in 2014, but with a Gumby.
@JoshB:
CENSORED by the leftists again!
The St. Lucie County Canvassing Board did a recount of three days of early voting and the voter count subsequently declined by nearly 1,000 ballots. 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. When it’s close vote fraud by the Demoncrats is a given (that’s why they complain about the recount).
It stands to reason that only a fool would take you seriously. You said this:
That claim is false. When are you going to take responsibility for making a false claim?
The GOP continues its war on reality.