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Date Published: November 13, 2004
Leventis declared winner
Jones will protest Dist. 35 election to state commission
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Bruz Crowson / The Item
Leventis talks to the media after the election
recount Friday at the Sumter County Courthouse. |
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By LESLIE CANTU
Item Staff Writer
lesliec@theitem.com
State Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, is the winner in the
state Senate District 35 race. That doesn't mean the election is
over, though.
The Sumter and Lee election commissions
recounted votes Friday morning and determined that Leventis won by
86 votes. The State Election Commission in Columbia declared
Leventis the winner at 2 p.m., at the same time that Republican
challenger Dickie Jones declared in Sumter that he will pursue a
protest of the election.
"I am making sure the integrity of
the election process in Sumter and Lee County is preserved," Jones
said.
There are a number of grounds to pursue a protest, and
"certainly" irregularities, Jones said, but he wouldn't specify what
grounds for appeal his team has found.
"From here forward
anything you hear will be lawyer-talk, Republican-talk," Leventis
said. "They need to get out of town and let us work."
The
voters have spoken, Leventis said, and he looks forward to getting
back to work and representing everyone in Sumter and Lee, whether
they voted for him or not.
The voters have spoken, but what
the counting machine reported they said Friday morning is quite
different from what they said on Election Night.
In Lee
County, Jones picked up one vote in the Stokes Bridge precinct and
Leventis' totals remained the same.
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.jpg)
Bruz Crowson / The Item
From
left, Pat Jefferson, director of the Sumter County Voter
Registration and Elections office, inspects ballots before
they are counted Friday at the Sumter County Courthouse as
Jeff Collins and Reuban Conyers prepare cards for the counting
machine. State Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, won the election
recount Friday in the District 35 race. |
| In Sumter County, however,
Jones lost 124 votes and Leventis lost 92 votes, meaning altogether
216 votes that showed up Election Night didn't appear again Friday
morning.
Pat Jefferson, director of the Sumter County Voter
Registration and Elections office, believes discrepancies crept in
during the hand count of ballots with write-in votes for Sumter
County auditor.
"The numbers that were given (Election Night)
were inflated due to the inaccuracy of the write-in totals,"
Jefferson said.
In fact, nearly all the precincts lost or
gained a couple of votes. Only seven precincts, Oakland Plantation,
Folsom Park, Sumter High I and II, Delaine, Manchester Forest and
Furman, didn't change.
The final totals for the race are
15,540 votes for Leventis and 15,454 votes for Jones.
Jones
acknowledged that no election is perfect but said he wants to make
sure this election was fair. Although he said the campaign laid out
its plans once it knew the initial election results, neither he nor
J Cabot Seth, his law partner and lawyer, would elaborate on what
the protest to the State Election Commission will entail.
Seth said the campaign needs to evaluate the new precinct
totals. Comparisons of the previous and current vote totals are
"curious," he said.
Leventis said Jones wouldn't be so
concerned about making sure the election was fair if he had come up
the winner in the recount.
"Any concerns they may raise now,
they wouldn't raise if they were up by 86 votes. It's strictly
outcome-based," Leventis said.
Jones has until noon
Wednesday to file a protest.
Contact Staff Writer Leslie
Cantu at lesliec@theitem.com or
803-774-1250.
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November 16, 2004 
