(Memphis) Kenneth Whalum Jr. says he has evidence that hundreds of ballots were illegally cast, causing him to lose his bid for the Shelby County School Board.
He is filing a lawsuit against the Shelby County Board of Elections, but now it’s up to a judge to decide if Whalum will get a re-vote.
Whalum lost the District Four Shelby County School Board seat to Kevin Woods by 105 votes.
He says 837 votes were improperly cast in that race.
In court Wednesday, attorneys for Whalum and the Shelby County Election Commission argued their sides before a chancery court judge.
“A vote is illegal if it’s cast by someone who is not eligible to vote in that race,” said Whalum’s attorney Robert Spence.
“Until this case is decided, I don’t think the voters can have any confidence or any level of confidence whatsoever that their votes count, and that’s very unfortunate,” said Whalum.
Woods says he wants to make sure every vote counts, even if it means holding a special election for District Four to vote again, potentially costing you the tax payer big bucks.
“Mistakes happen in elections. There are going to be people who probably live outside of the district who voted inside the district. What we want to see is if that would have changed the outcome of the election,” said Woods.
Until then Woods says he and Whalum are working together to plan for the merger of Memphis City and Shelby County Schools next year.
Whalum’s attorney says he expects the trial over this negligence lawsuit to start at the end of November or beginning of December.