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Judges rule against Jett in election lawsuit
Three-judge panel dismisses lawsuit against new Stafford School Board member Patricia ManciniDate published: 12/28/2007 BY JEFF BRANSCOME After deliberating behind closed doors for six hours yesterday, a three-judge panel dismissed a lawsuit that disputed the result of a Stafford School Board race. School Board member-elect Patricia Mancini still will take over the George Washington District seat Jan. 1. Write-in candidate Price Jett Jr., who requested a recount in November and must now pay court costs, personally congratulated his opponent after the hearing. He said he didn't consider the result at Stafford County Circuit Court a total loss. The judges recognized 38 votes for Jett that weren't counted on Election Day, which would've given him 1,463 votes, or 17 fewer than Mancini. The electoral board threw out most of those votes because people didn't fill in a box indicating they were writing in Jett's name, his suit claims. The errors were identified at two of the district's three precincts because voting machine problems forced election officials to hand count ballots, Jett claimed. Write-in votes without a mark on a corresponding box should be deemed valid whenever ballots are hand counted, argued Jett's lawyer, William Hurd of Richmond. But the judges said they saw no evidence of problems with the third precinct's voting machines, making a recount unnecessary. "What's significant about these allegations is what he's not alleging," Mancini's lawyer, William Wright of Richmond, said in an opening statement. Stafford Commissioner of Revenue Scott Mayausky claims he saw one vote for Jett go uncounted at that polling place because the voter did not fill in the box by Jett's name. However, state law doesn't require that such a vote be counted, so long as the ballot is run through an optical scanner, the judges said. "The obvious purpose is to ensure a uniformity of voting practices and procedures," said Judge Harry Taliaferro III. State law says write-in votes without a mark on a corresponding box should be counted during a recount. But that rule applies to a type of ballot not used in the contested School Board race, the judges concluded. Susan Stimpson, chair of the Stafford Republican Party, said she doesn't understand how different standards could be used to count votes at one precinct. "Price's intent was not to go in and try to take the election, but his intent was to have every vote fairly and justly counted," she said. Wright said all ballots informed voters how to cast a write-in vote. Even Jett's campaign material "told voters exactly how to do it. And that's a practical requirement." The election was so close, he said, because of the the electoral board's "generous and inappropriate standards" for tallying Jett's votes. They awarded him write-in votes for Jim Jett, Billy Jett (which friends call him) and just plain Jett. Mancini said she's thankful the judges protected the democratic process. "I am so delighted that the system worked," she said. Jeff Branscome: 540/374-5402Email: jbranscome@freelancestar.com
Read more stories about Stafford Date published: 12/28/2007
Price -Jim - Billy Jett didn't merely "request a recount"...
(posted by
Chiswald
, Dec. 28, 2007 8:49 am)
He followed the advice of the Stafford County Republicans and sued his opponent. The Dishonorable House Speaker Bill Howell condoned this harassment and backed this baseless, frivolous lawsuit with money from his own campaign account that he funneled to Jett's lawyer. Unfortunatly for Howell, Jett, and all other ethically challenged members of the Stafford GOP who tried to overturn the democratic process, we have something called the RULE OF LAW.
Congrats!
(posted by
hpdomi
, Dec. 28, 2007 2:46 am)
Congrats to Ms. Mancini. Finally,she can get to work.I think maybe Mr. Howell better write a bigger check.
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