Al Edwards Takes His Vote-Fraud Allegations Against Borris Miles To Court

​Voter fraud in Harris County? Could it be so?

Well, State Representative Al Edwards says it is, and to try and prove it he filed a petition late Tuesday in Harris County District Court contesting the recent primary election results which put him 10 votes behind his long-time Democrat rival Borris Miles.

Edwards claims that the only reason Miles appeared to have beaten him is due to voter fraud and the illegal casting of ballots. He says he believes that he, not Miles, actually received the most legal votes and therefore it should be his name on the ticket in the general election.

Edwards boils down whose votes were wrongfully counted into five categories:

One, voters who live outside of his district; two, voters who were improperly registered or whose registration had been canceled; three, voters who were ineligible to vote because of a felony conviction, four, voters who did not properly fill out early mail voting applications, and lastly, that ballots were cast for Miles that were procured by fraud or without the knowledge of the actual voter.

In the petition, Edwards also claims that he believes that votes cast for him by legal voters were not counted because of fraud and that illegal conduct prevented legal voters from casting their ballots.

Edwards, a real estate broker, was originally elected to office in the late 1970s, but was unseated by Miles, a former cop and insurance man, in 2006. Edwards however reclaimed his seat from Miles in 2008.

Edwards is asking the court to determine that illegal votes were counted for Miles in the March primary and that legal votes for him were not. He then wants the court to declare him the winner.

Yes sir, you gotta love America.

Update: The move comes after Miles' win was upheld in a recount today. Miles said "I am grateful that due process was followed, and that the election result has been finalized. I thank those from the Harris County Democratic Party and County Clerk's Office for their hard work and dedication during this recount. Most of all, I thank the people of District 146 for the opportunity to serve them in Austin. I look forward to getting to work on their behalf."