Following the 2016 municipal elections, former Wetumpka City Councilor Lewis Washington, Sr. filed a lawsuit in Elmore County Circuit Court against his opponent Percy Gill. Washington, who lost to Gill in the District 2 race by only three votes, 168-165, claimed people who were not legally on the voter rolls were allowed to vote in the election.
Nearly a year later the case finally went to trial on Monday, Aug. 20, 2017.
Less than 48 hours later Judge Sibley Reynolds on Wednesday ruled in Washington’s favor, stating that based on the evidence presented Washington indeed the “true” winner based on absentee ballot votes.
According to WFSA, the court found eight absentee votes for Gill were illegally cast as they were not signed by the voter in the presence of two witnesses or a notary public. With the eight votes taken away, Washington won by a final vote of 165-160.
