McDonald County Circuit Judge Gregory Stremel has ordered that the ballots cast in the April 2 Goodman mayoral election be unsealed.
Attorney William G. Weber filed a motion on July 3, requesting access to election material. Stremel signed the order on July 9, asking that the ballots be unsealed "as expediently as possible."
"The clerk is ordered then to unseal the ballot in the presence of all interested parties and provide for the contestant and his attorneys the ability to inspect and photocopy any and all relevant ballots," the order read.
J.R. Fisher, a write-in candidate, and incumbent Greg Richmond faced off in the mayoral election in early April.
Richmond was sworn in April 16 as Goodman mayor during a city council meeting after city attorney Duane Cooper reviewed the county's certified election results.
Weber e-filed the lawsuit on May 4. In the lawsuit, Fisher says the total count of all the votes for mayoral candidates doesn't add up. The lawsuit claims that 13 votes were not counted.
Fisher claims that, "Contestant states that there are issues of validity with the votes casted, specifically that votes were cast for him that were not counted because of the way they were cast, and RSMO Chapter 115 requires that the votes be recounted 'if the validity of a number of votes equal to or greater than the margin of defeat is placed in doubt.'"
McDonald County Circuit Court Clerk Tanya Lewis said a hearing is still set for 9 a.m., July 30, at the courthouse.
Richmond was served the lawsuit's papers on May 11 and hired Aaron Farber to represent him in the case.
General News on 07/18/2019