Second-place finisher seeks recount of Metro Council primary

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The runner-up in a Metro Council primary asked for a vote recount, alleging "irregularities or outright fraud" in a precinct earlier this month.

Ray "Sir Friendly C" Barker, who finished second to incumbent council member Donna Purvis in the 5th District Democratic primary, filed a lawsuit Thursday in Jefferson Circuit Court seeking a formal recount of all ballots cast in the race.

He claims he was notified by a Jefferson County Board of Elections representative hours after polls closed on May 17 that he had won with 1,386 votes, beating Purvis by 12 votes.

The following morning, however, Barker said he was told by the same person that a "data/memory stick" hadn’t been turned in for a precinct later identified as Whitney M. Young Elementary School in the Shawnee neighborhood. With those votes tabulated, Purvis had 1,527 votes, 35 more than Barker.

Barker alleges a discrepancy in how many registered Democrats voted at the precinct. The lawsuit says a paper vote total posted at the school after voting ended showed 247 Democrats voting but that the vote totals for the precinct indicate 315 such voters cast ballots.

Barker, a former Louisville police officer, claims he would have won without Purvis’ 153 "phantom" votes from the precinct. (Official Jefferson County Clerk records show Purvis received 114 votes at that location.)

The county clerk’s office posted online vote totals from all precincts before midnight on primary day, including unofficial results showing Purvis led by 35 votes, WDRB News reported at 11:54 p.m.

In the lawsuit, Barker claims the votes from the elementary school were "allegedly ‘found’ the morning after the close of the previous day’s primary election."

Barker is represented by former Republican state Rep. Bob Heleringer. Under state law, Barker would pay for the recount for all 30 precincts in the district. The request seeks to have a judge take possession of all voting machines, ballots and ballot boxes and other documents related to the election in District 5.

The Jefferson County Clerk’s Office and the Jefferson County Board of Elections conducted a recanvass of the District 5 primary on Thursday. That taxpayer-funded process, which involved rechecking vote totals for accuracy, upheld Purvis’ lead over Barker.

The board of elections and Barker’s Democratic opponents in the primary are defendants in the lawsuit. Erran Huber, spokesman for the Jefferson County Clerk’s office, declined to comment because of the pending litigation.