Lawsuit in tight election to be filed Monday

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WPRI) - Hoping the state's high court will force the Board of Elections to conduct a manual recount in a tight legislative race, the Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is expecting to file a lawsuit Monday.

Carlos Tobon lost to veteran State Representative William San Bento in the September primary for Pawtucket District 58 by a razor thin margin: one vote.

During a taping of WPRI 12's Newsmakers, Tobon said his campaign hasn't been granted access to all the information they need.

"[At one] precinct there was 284 people who went to vote, but there were 285 ballots cast. So we have a rogue ballot," Tobon said. "We asked to see the applications to make sure they were counted properly."

Steve Brown from the ACLU said they are working on the details of the lawsuit now and plan on filing with Supreme Court on Monday.

"What we have been fighting for the whole time is a manual recount," Tobon said."Under the 14th Amendment it guarantees that their vote is equal."

The turnout in that district was painfully low. Of approximately 6,900 eligible primary voters, only 1,087 showed up at the polls.

San Bento declined an invitation to appear on Newsmakers with Tobon, saying he had a scheduling conflict.

Tim White ( twhite@wpri.com ) is the Target 12 investigative reporter for WPRI 12 and Fox Providence. Follow him on Twitter: @white_tim