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Williams may have lost, but he's not giving up
By LEONORA LaPETER © St. Petersburg Times, published March 6, 2001 ST. PETERSBURG -- Absentee ballots for the March 27 mayoral election are already being printed with the names of Rick Baker and Kathleen Ford. But Larry Williams, who finished out of the general election by just 220 votes, isn't stepping aside yet. Ford picked up an additional vote during the manual recount, making the official margin 220. Two days after the recount of 10 percent of the votes (3,712 punch card ballots) showed Baker and Ford were still the top two vote-getters, Williams said he's not sure whether he's going to bow out of this election. He said he's not a sore loser -- just a careful one. "This is not about losing," said Williams, a council member for the past six years and the owner of a diagnostic imaging company. "It's about an election process and making sure that process is correct. That's what this is about." Williams, 56, has until midnight tonight to protest the election, said Mark Winn, chief assistant city attorney. Williams said he still has a problem with the way the St. Petersburg Canvassing Board handled his request to recount the 1,650 absentee ballots. State election law gave Williams, who requested the recount last Thursday, the opportunity to select three of the precincts to be recounted. Williams made his three selections to the Canvassing Board Friday, but then he also asked for a recount of absentee ballots. The Canvassing Board refused, saying Williams had not cited any deficiencies with the way absentee ballots were cast or counted in his original request Thursday. Canvassing board members said Williams gave several reasons for seeking a recount. He pointed out that the Feb. 27 primary was so close that just 219 votes, or less than six-tenths of the vote, separated Williams from the second-place vote-getter, Ford. A loss by less than half a percent would have triggered an automatic recount. Another reason Williams gave was that the November election was such a mess it revealed a problem with the punch card technology. Williams said he also observed some differences in how voters were educated on the voting machines at two precincts. But never did Williams mention a problem with absentee ballots during his request for a recount, said City Council member Rene Flowers, a Canvassing Board member. Williams said he plans to listen to a tape of Thursday's meeting of the St. Petersburg Canvassing Board to see if he mentioned the absentee ballots. "I'm looking for this process to be clean and not to leave anything hanging out there more than I'm looking for anything else," Williams said. The Canvassing Board, which is made up of City Council members who were not candidates in the Feb. 27 primary election, would have complete discretion to decide whether it wants to "investigate, examine, check and correct," the results of the election, according to state law. Several members said Monday they would need specific facts to go any further. "I gave his attorney an open door," said Canvassing Board member Bill Foster, a City Council member. "Do you have any specific knowledge or facts that there might be any irregularities with absentee ballots? He said no. He had no specific allegation or any specific fact." Foster said he'd need to be convinced of an irregularity involving the casting or counting of absentee ballots to recount the absentee ballots at this point. If Williams decides he wants more ballots recounted, he could file a contest of the election with the Circuit Court. He would have to provide specific details about why he is contesting the election and would have to exercise that option within 10 days of the election or five days after a protest of the election. "I hope it doesn't go in that direction, but we don't have the call on that," Flowers said. "That's up to Mr. Williams and his attorney."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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