Special Election In The 78th House District One Week From Today

A week ago results in one race in the August 2nd primary were tossed out:

Judge Rex Burlison set the new Democratic primary in the 78th House District for Sept. 16, the earliest date allowed by state law. The 78th covers a swath of eastern St. Louis, from just north of downtown to near the Anheuser-Busch brewery.

Though Burlison found no evidence that any of the 4,300 votes cast in the Aug. 2 primary between incumbent Penny Hubbard and challenger Bruce Franks were fraudulent, he ruled that the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners violated state law when it allowed 142 people to cast absentee ballots in person at the elections board headquarters without using the required envelopes.

That more than wipes out Hubbard’s 90-vote margin of victory, which came solely on absentee ballots. (St. Louis Public Radio)

Franks got more votes on election day, but came up short due to absentee votes.

Franks lost to Hubbard in the August 2 Democratic primary by just 90 votes, but he maintained — and Judge Burlison agreed — that problems surrounding the election board’s acceptance of absentee ballots was enough to throw the election’s outcome into question.

“The Court is firmly convinced that these irregularities affected the outcome of the election,” the judge wrote. “These irregularities were more than ‘petty procedural infirmities, but abuses of the law that cannot be ignored.'”

Franks won 52.7 percent of ballots cast on election day, but just 21 percent of absentee ballots. That was enough to tip the election to Hubbard. (Riverfront Times). See the ruling here.

The numbers alone show two 5th Ward precincts had a far greater use of absentee ballots the the rest of the city. Overall 2.14% of registered voters did so via absentee ballot.

Here’s a breakdown of turnout via absentee:

• 0%: 9 precincts
• <1%: 29 precincts
• 1%-1.99%: 97 precincts
• 2%-2.99%: 41 precincts
• 3%-3.99%: 27 precincts
• 4%-4.99%: 8 precincts
• 5%-5.99%: 5 precincts
• 6%-6.99%: 1 precinct, in 5th ward
• 7%-7.99%: 1 precinct
• 8%-8.99%: 2 precincts, 1 in 5th ward
• 9%-9.99%: 0 precincts
• 10%-10.99%: 0 precincts
• 11%-11.99%: 1 precinct
• 12%-12.99%: 0 precincts
• 13%-13.99%: 0 precincts
• 14%-14.99%: 1 precinct

More than 60% (135) of precincts had less than 2% vote absentee. Ninety-five percent (211) of precincts had less than 5% vote absentee. So, 211 out of 222 precincts each had less 5% turnout via absentee ballot.  Another 9 (4%) had between 5-9% turnout via absentee.   Two precincts, both in the 5th Ward & House Dist 78, had 11.15% & 14.78% turnout via absentee ballot!

What motivates so many people in a few 5th ward precincts, where the housing is run by Rodney Hubbard Sr, to go down to the Board of Elections rather than vote closer by on election day?

The 78th district is made up of 25 precincts in parts of the following wards: 2-9, 20, & 25.

On Monday, Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, replaced Chairwoman Joan M. Burger and Board Secretary Andrew L. Schwartz, citing a prominent sentence in St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison’s 22-page Friday ruling. Burlison said that election irregularities in the contest between Bruce Franks Jr. and Penny Hubbard for the 78th District Missouri House seat were “solely the responsibility of the City of St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners,” not of voters.

“In other words, the board was not doing its job,” Nixon said.

Erwin “Erv” Switzer, a Democrat and partner of the law firm Greensfelder Attorneys at Law, is the new chairman. Al W. Johnson, a Republican and founder of New Covenant Legal Services, which provides legal services to low-income people in St. Louis, is the new secretary.

Whether Burger and Schwarz were actually “fired,” may come down to semantics. (Post-Dispatch).

Further reading:

• The American endorses Bruce Franks for state rep
• P-D investigation reveals multiple problems with absentee voting
• Messenger: Follow the money to understand Hubbard-election dispute (highly recommended)

If you live in the 78th House District please plan to vote for Bruce Franks Jr one week from today. Absentee balloting began yesterday, and yes — I hear they have envelopes required by state law!

— Steve Patterson