After losing by three votes, 40th Missouri House District candidate sues

A Missouri House candidate who officially lost — by three votes — the Democratic race to represent Kansas City’s Northeast area is suing for a new election.

Will Royster cited illegally cast votes and other election irregularities in his petition filed in Jackson County Circuit Court.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday, not long after the Missouri secretary of state officially declared John Joseph Rizzo the winner of the 40th House District race by 667 to 664.

The election-night count had Rizzo winning by six votes, but the margin tightened to just three when the Kansas City Election Board certified the result last week.

In his lawsuit, Royster contended that about 30 votes were cast illegally in two precinct polling locations, one at the Kansas City Museum and the other at Garfield Elementary School.

A man who identified himself as an interpreter for a group of Somalis stood over them as they looked at ballots and instructed them on how to cast votes, the suit contends.

The lawsuit suggests the votes were being cast for Rizzo, as at one point a Somali man brought a Rizzo yard sign into the polling place.

“He stood directly in front of the election judge’s table, pointed to the sign and publicly advised the other adult Somalis to vote for ‘this one, this one.’ ”

The Rizzo sign, the lawsuit stated, was left propped against the election judge’s table for at least 10 to 15 minutes “in full view of every voter who entered the polling place.”

Royster’s attorney, Phil Willoughby, said, “there are no allegations that J.J. Rizzo did anything wrong.” Any wrongs appear to have been committed by overzealous supporters, he said.

Rizzo on Tuesday said he looked forward to settling the election.

“I’m confident in the Kansas City Election Board,” Rizzo said. “And this is nothing unusual from my opponent who has sued everybody else” regarding other matters.

Rizzo added that Somali voters have told him that Royster supporters also helped Somalis cast ballots.

Willoughby said he could see no remedy to the situation but a new election. The petition also requests a hand recount.

Missouri law specifically prohibits a person other than election judges and members of a voter’s immediate family from assisting more than one voter at one election, the lawsuit contends. The law also prohibits campaigning or electioneering in the polling place.

If he withstands this legal challenge, Rizzo would face Libertarian Sean O’Toole in the November general election, but the district is heavily Democratic.

This was Rizzo’s fourth attempt to win the seat. The bitter campaign featured a war of attack mailings.

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Kansas City.com

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