Following a recount of early ballots, West’s legal options appeared to narrow. Allen West falls further behind

Florida Rep. Allen West’s reelection prospects grew dimmer Sunday, as a recount of early ballots showed him falling further behind his Democratic opponent.

Democrat Patrick Murphy, a 29-year-old construction company executive, gained 242 votes after the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections completed its re-tabulation, increasing his lead to more than 2,100 votes over West, a tea party hero. Murphy’s lead is just outside the 0.5 percent margin that would trigger an automatic district-wide recount under Florida law.


( Also on POLITICO: West wins round in recount fight)

West won a legal battle Friday when the office’s canvassing board decided to re-tally all early votes that had been cast. The Republican had argued that those votes had been accidentally double-counted on election night and provided a winning margin to Murphy.

But with Murphy’s margin growing after the recount, West’s legal options appeared to narrow. With St. Lucie County having a noon deadline Sunday for certifying its election results, Murphy’s campaign argued that the election was effectively over. Florida has a Tuesday deadline for certifying the results from all three counties that make up the 18th Congressional District.

( Also on POLITICO: Vote-count snafus leave West, Barber hanging)

Vote-count snafus leave Allen West, Ron Barber hanging Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83955.html#ixzz2CgLnnEw6

Vote-count snafus leave Allen West, Ron Barber hanging Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83955.html#ixzz2CgLnnEw6

Vote-count snafus leave Allen West, Ron Barber hanging Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83955.html#ixzz2CgLnnEw6

“By state law, he is effectively the winner,” Eric Johnson, a senior Murphy advisor, said in an interview.

Tim Edson, West’s campaign manager, said the advisers would be spending the coming hours assessing the vote totals. He did not specify whether the congressman had any plans to concede. Advisers said it was unlikely any decision would come Sunday.

“We’re going to take a look at where things stand,” Edson said. “If we believe the results are fair and accurate, we’re going to decide how to move forward. That decision has not been made.”

The fresh results marked the latest chapter in an increasingly chaotic and drawn-out election, which has extended nearly two weeks past the Nov. 6 election.

Gertrude Walker, the St. Lucie elections supervisor, has acknowledged errors in counting ballots, saying there was an initial error in feeding memory cards from voting machines through the vote-counting system. At a press conference last week, Walker said her office had acted in “haste” to make public results on Nov. 6 and that “mistakes were made.” On Friday, at a canvassing board hearing, the office announced that it had found 304 early-cast ballots in a box that had previously been uncounted.

This week, the Florida Secretary of State’s sent a team of auditors to investigate the office’s handling of the election, saying it was “concerned” about the results.

One remaining option for West is to file a lawsuit contesting the election. Under Florida law, the congressman would have until Nov. 30 to file such a contest.

Chris LaCivita, a top West strategist, said in a Sunday interview that Walker had badly botched the vote-counting process, giving the campaign ammunition to use.

“Each day that Gertrude Walker and her collection of idiots continues to mismanage, misappropriate, and not do their job just provides us with more evidence to use in an election contest and makes it more likely that we will do that,” LaCivita said.

Murphy’s legal team has aggressively fought West’s efforts to recount ballots. On Saturday, they failed to convince a judge to halt the re-tabulation of early ballots.

The Democrat has already begun the transition process, despite the continuing uncertainty surrounding the election. Murphy attended freshman orientation on Capitol Hill this week, and appeared at a press conference with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Johnson, the Murphy adviser, shrugged off West’s threats of further legal action.

“They’re going to do what they can to tie this up in court, but Patrick is going to be certified in Congress as the winner.”