By Candice Ludlow
Memphis, TN – The Shelby County Election Commission is still on the hot seat, but after a day of testimony, stacks of CDs, election reports and depositions entered in as evidence by the losing candidates, lawyers for the Election Commission asked Chancellor Arnold Goldin to dismiss the case because the plaintiffs have asked rhetorical questions and have not alleged "fraud or any illegality as to render the results as incurable."
Ten losing candidates filed suit in Chancery Court alleging the August 5th election was "incurably uncertain" just days after the Shelby County Election Commission certified the election on August 19th. On Election Day, people were turned away from the polls after they were told they had voted, but they had not.
J. Gerard Stranch, IV is an attorney for the plaintiffs, and he said, "It's impossible to know what really happened" in this election. "Shelby County needs to explain."
On Wednesday, the plaintiffs laid out their case while the attorneys on both sides took turns examining and cross examining the witnesses
Regina Newman, who lost the race for Shelby County Trustee by 4,509 votes and was part of the inspection team, told the court that there were many problems with the poll tapes and voting machines were not all secured after the election. Some irregularities include torn poll tapes, jammed printers causing illegible numbers, and incomplete tapes.
In an effort to expedite the trial, plaintiffs' lawyers asked Goldin to read the depositions of Dennis Boyce, IT Director, who imported the May early voting data into the electronic poll books, Albert Holmes, IT specialist who works for the Commission and whose job it is to ensure that the computer system is accurate and works, and Richard Holden, Administrator of Elections for Shelby County.
One of the key witnesses, Julie Ann Kempf, says the Election Commission did not use best practices as they prepared for the election. She says Albert Holmes did not do complete logic and accuracy testing on the voting machines, and in "several races you had more votes than voters." She also says the Commission should contact the affected voters to find out what happened on election day to remedy the situation and cure the results.
Commission lawyers pointed out that Kempf is problematic as an expert witness because she was fired from her job as the administrator of elections in Seattle for an error under her watch. The trial resumes Thursday.