Losing Florida candidate dismisses conspiracy theories

CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla. (AP) - An overlooked orange bag of votes, allegations of fraud and a couple of messy recounts spawned conspiracy theories from Panacea to Sopchoppy, but one losing Wakulla County candidate says he doesn’t believe any of them.

Charlie Creel, a retired state trooper who ran for sheriff without party affiliation, conceded Thursday. Incumbent David Harvey, a Democrat, had a 48-lead vote after an automatic recount in the tiny Florida Panhandle county just south of Tallahassee.

“Richard Nixon did not ... come down here and create Sopchoppygate,“ Creel told the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper. “There’s no conspiracy. The bottom line is he got more votes than me.“

In the other race that went to a recount, Lynn Artz, who also ran without party affiliation, unseated County Commissioner Jim Stokely, a Democrat, by eight votes out of 14,412 cast.

“This community is very polarized,“ Artz said, but she praised Stokely for running a positive campaign.

The belated discovery of the ballot bag with an unrecorded seal number fueled suspicion. It had been secured, though, in a locked room with other ballot bags.

Tension heightened when the county’s Election Canvassing Board met behind a locked door. Panel members opened it when a reporter knocked. A spokeswoman for Secretary of State Kurt Browning said board members had closed the door because of noise outside the room but didn’t realized it had locked.

A Panacea resident then filed a fraud complaint with the state. It alleged some voters had registered with addresses that were nonexistent or for vacant lots. The complaint also charged a computer company handling voter registration had a conflict of interest because it also worked for the sheriff’s office.

Supervisor of Elections Sherida Crum denied any conflict and said she was unaware Inspired Technologies had a contract with the sheriff’s office, which since has expired. Crum said she cannot remove voters without proof they no longer live in Wakulla County.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.