BOWLING GREEN, KY. (CN) - The Green County Board of Elections unconstitutionally threw a county election to the Republican candidate by disqualifying all 542 absentee ballots after allegedly finding two unspecified "irregularities," neither of which could be determined to have affected a voter, according to a federal class action.
Plaintiffs claim that Democratic candidate Carolyn Scott won the Nov. 7, 2006 election for Green County clerk, with 2,536 votes - 364 of them absentee ballots. Republican Billy Joe Lowe got 2,385 votes - 178 of them absentee.
Plaintiffs claim these 542 voters were disenfranchised when the Elections Board threw the race to the Republican, turning a 151-vote defeat into an unconstitutional, 35-vote win.
Plaintiffs are represented in Federal Court by Joseph Mattingly III of Lebanon, Ky.
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