Livingston County Justice Ark wants answers on DA miscount
Justice Ark wants answers on DA miscount
- Details
- Published on Monday, 01 October 2012 17:49
- Written by Josh Williams
LIVINGSTON COUNTY — Livingston County District Attorney candidate Steve Sessler has had tonight's Livingston County Republican Committee meeting blocked by court order.
Livingston County Attorney David Morris and the Board of Elections have been ordered to appear before Justice Ark to explain their actions.
The committee was scheduled to meet tonight for a tie-breaking vote in the Republican District Attorney primary. That contest was locked in a tie Monday, for the second time, after absentee ballots were fully counted.
In Monday's court ruling blocking the meeting, Lowell Conrad, Livingston County Republican Committee Chairman, and the Board of Elections are "temporarily enjoined and restrained from filling a vacancy pursuant to election law6-148(3) due to a tie vote at the primary election held on September 13, 2012." In addition, the committee has been issued a court order blocking them from filing and the Board of Elections from accepting a certificate and authorization.
After the absentee ballots were counted and recorded as a tie on September 19th, the judge ordered that the ballots be locked and not tampered with. One week later, Livingston County Attorney David Morris told the candidates that there had been a miscount in the counting of absentee ballots in the Avon polling district, and Schiener was now ahead by one vote.
The key issue at this point: All parties were present at the initial absentee ballot count on September 19th before the Board of Elections. At issue is exactly how, when, or where, Attorney Morris and the Board of Elections re-counted the supposedly locked Avon absentee ballots without notification to or representation by Sessler.
All parties involved are due back in court on October 3rd to address the matter, with some risk for the Republican Party of being found in contempt of court. The wording of the court document shows that at this point, Justice Ark is not satisfied with the actions of the County Attorney, David Morris and the Livingston County Board of Elections.
