O’Farrell v. Landis

This was an election contest regarding the office of state representative. Joshua O'Farrell and Al Landis were the candidates. After the general election, the county board of elections declared that Landis had defeated O'Farrell by fourteen votes. After an automatic recount was conducted, the county board of elections declared that Landis had defeated O'Farrell by eight votes. O'Farrell subsequently filed this case contesting the election. O'Farrell moved for an order to hand-count or permit inspection of thirteen ballots, which the chief justice denied. O'Farrell then moved the Supreme Court for an order compelling production of the ballots, to extend the deadline by which to submit evidence, and for leave to file a motion to supplement the motion to compel. The Court denied the motions after noting that O'Farrell would have the opportunity to present his arguments for a recount or visual inspection to the House of Representatives when the election petition was before that body, holding that because O'Farrell had not identified a genuine election irregularity in his petition, a visual inspection or production of the ballots to support that count was not justified at this time. View "O'Farrell v. Landis" on Justia Law