By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

Just as it appeared the race for the 111th Kansas House District seat was settled, several Ellis County residents filed a civil suit against the winner of the race, Republican Barb Wasinger challenging the election claiming that it was incumbent Democrat Eber Phelps who actually won.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in Ellis County District Court by seven Hays residents, most notably former Kansas State Sen. Janis Lee. Lee currently serves as vice president of the Ellis County Democratic Party.

In the November general election, Wasinger, R-Hays, defeated Phelps by 32 votes and the Board of Canvassers certified the results.

Phelps campaign requested a recount and, on Nov. 20, it was determined Wasinger had won by 35 votes. The Board of Canvassers voted 2-1 to certify the results a second time.

The suit levels a number of allegations against County Clerk and Election Officer Donna Maskus. They range from not properly maintaining and testing the county’s electronic voting machines to improperly handling the recount — all issues previously raised by the Phelps campaign.

But in new allegations, the filers of the suit claim that because Maksus failed to do her job properly that “some voters were deprived of the right of voting for the candidate they intended and such deprival could change the result of the election.”

The suit goes on to claim that illegal votes were counted while legal votes were not and that errors in counting the votes could change the outcome of the election.

They claim that for all of those reasons the Certificate of Election should have been presented to Phelps instead of Wasinger.

Click here to see the notice of election contest.

In a letter last week, Phelps announced he would not contest the results of the election.