Florida officials ordered a partial recount of ballots in the 18th District's race between Republican Allen West and Democrat Patrick Murphy.
Allen West led on election night but currently trails Murphy by 2,442 votes.
FOX News reported:
Election officials in St. Lucie County will recount early votes cast in the hotly contested race for Florida's 18th district's House seat between Tea Party favorite Rep. Allen West and his challenger, Democrat Patrick Murphy.
The St. Lucie County Canvassing Board announced late Saturday it had set an ???emergency meeting??? to start at 7 a.m. Sunday at its headquarters, to ???recount all ballots cast during early voting.??? The number of early ballots is estimated by officials to be roughly 37,000.
West, who has refused to concede the race, is currently trailing Murphy by 2,442 votes, according to the latest results from Florida Division of Elections. On its website, the agency says West has garnered 164,448 votes to Murphy???s 166,890.
"There are possible irregularities in St. Lucie County," claims Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, a Florida lawyer volunteering for the West campaign who has been quoted on the issue. "On Sunday we'll have a chance to recount the early votes and that's a good start to preserving the integrity of the democratic process."
West's campaign said in a Saturday statement it was pleased with the news of the partial recount.
"This decision should help shed light on the situation of this election," the statement said. "This is the action we were seeking to ensure the results of this election were fair and accurate."
West's campaign had said earlier Saturday that issues with the voting in St. Lucie County meant the race was still undecided.
"Late on Election Night, Congressman West led by 1,700 votes," West for Congress said in a statement. "Following the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections??? decision to recount thousands of early ballots after a technical glitch, the margin shifted by 4,000. In order to ensure that votes were not doubled counted, we have requested that the St. Lucie Supervisor of Elections make public the poll check-in books to ensure the numbers of ballots cast matches the numbers of voters checked-in at the polls."
