FOXNews.com: DOWN FOR THE COUNT? West Raises Alarm Over Recount in House Race

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DOWN FOR THE COUNT? West Raises Alarm Over Recount in House Race Nov 12th 2012, 16:07 The partial vote recount in Florida Rep. Allen West's re-election bid indicates ballots were double counted, but election officials still say the Republican lawmaker has lost the race. The Tea Party-backed West demanded a recount after a wild swing of votes on election night in which he was leading Democratic challenger Tim Murphy by roughly 2,000 votes, then trailed by 2,400 votes about 35 minutes later. Officials said Saturday a final tally in the state's 18th Congressional District shows Murphy had won by enough votes to avoid a full recount. But they agreed a partial recount of early votes in St. Lucie County after acknowledging some votes had been counted twice. West and his campaign objected to just a recount of votes cast Nov.1-3, arguing the irregularity calls for a full audit. "If people are that adamant about getting rid of me that's fine," West told Fox News on Monday. "But don't do it at the expense of the integrity of our electoral process. That's what disturbs me the most." The West team is singling out County Supervisor of Elections Gertrude Walker and requesting a comparison of voter signatures from all polling places with the total ballots counted because the numbers do not appear to match. Officials have "already stated they had a 141 percent voter turnout, which I think should cause everyone alarm," West told Fox. He also said Murphy officials were allowed to observe the Sunday recount, but West's were not. St. Lucie County Assistant Attorney Heather Young told NBC-WPTV that the recount was related to computer memory cards that record the ballots when fed through voting machines. Officials said Saturday that West lost by 2,442 votes. The partial recount changed the final tally by a few hundred votes, and officials have not changed the final, but unofficial, outcome. Officials also allowed for additional vote counting in Palm Beach County before issuing the tally Saturday. West's only option now appears to be through the courts. West, 51, is one of only two black Republicans in the House. He had a constant string of headline-grabbing statements, from calling a majority of congressional Democrats communists to saying President Barack Obama, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and others should "get the hell out of the United States." Murphy, 29, was a political newcomer who portrayed West as an extremist who has done little else in Washington than stoke partisan fires. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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