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Allen West (R-Fla) demanded a recount after Nov. 6 elections results favored his 29-year-old Democratic opponent, Patrick Murphy.

West, however, realized that he was even further behind in the his District 18 congressional race on Sunday than on Election Day, The Palm Beach Post reports.

A new tally of votes released on Sunday by the St. Lucie election board showed Murphy with a with 65,841 vote count to West’s 52,704, increasing his lead to 0.65 percent.

Murphy’s senior adviser called for West to concede. Though a representative from the one-term Congressman’s camp balked at the request. “As usual, Murphy’s people are full of garbage,”  Tim Edson, West’s campaign manager, said to The Post. “This is something the secretary of state and governor will have to sort out.”

Here is more from The Post:

The win came at 12:01 p.m., when Johnson told Murphy supporters and the media that the St. Lucie County Canvassing Board had missed its noon deadline to file results to the state Division of Elections.

The results from one precinct could not be fully uploaded during the recount, said St. Lucie County Commissioner Tod Mowery, a canvassing board member. Even though the data were manually entered and the rest of the results were sent to state officials, the board could not certify the results because of the problems with the single cartridge.

Under Florida law, the certified unofficial results submitted a week ago Sunday stand when the certified results do not arrive on time. Those results have Murphy, a Democrat, winning by 0.58 percent. A spread of less than 0.50 percent would have triggered an automatic recount.

Preliminary numbers released around 2 p.m. by the St. Lucie County board showed Murphy with an even greater lead, with 65,841 votes to West’s 52,704. When those results are added to the final tallies in Martin and Palm Beach counties, Murphy’s lead increased to 0.65 percent.

West’s options are limited. Shortly after noon, his legal team began discussing an emergency exemption in the law that permits final returns to be filed after the deadline. That exemption defines emergency as any occurrence “that results or may result in substantial injury or harm to the population or substantial damage to or loss of property to the extent it will prohibit an election officer’s ability to conduct a safe and orderly election.”

Though West’s chances of being reelected are looking slimmer than the rims of his glasses, it is not in his nature to go down without a fight. Even in a possibly exit, West will likely make headlines as he bites the election campaign dust.

Allen West Trails In Recount He Demanded; Opponent Declares Victory  was originally published on newsone.com

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