Lynchburg GOP primary city council candidate drops election challenge over absentee ballots

A GOP primary election candidate for city council in Lynchburg, Va., has dropped his election challenge after initially alleging 125 absentee ballots weren't counted.

Peter Alexander, who ran as a Republican for Ward IV Lynchburg City Council in the June 18 primary election, withdrew his lawsuit against Vice Mayor Chris Faraldi on Monday, Cardinal News reported.

"It has become apparent that all 125 absentee ballots at issue were, in fact, counted (with one possible exception), and that any such irregularities as may remain would not be sufficient to have a probable impact on the outcome of the Primary Election, given the 33-vote margin separating the two candidates," Alexander said in his notice of nonsuit that following his receipt of documents for the lawsuit.

The Saturday after the primary election, Alexander had alleged election irregularities and called for "a full manual recount and audit" of the election.

Faraldi's lawyer, Zach Werrell, on Monday said that Alexander’s lawsuit was “a political hit job intended to waste my client’s money and time,” according to Cardinal News.

“Within minutes of reading the complaint, it was obvious they were simply misinformed, confused themselves, or intentionally confusing the issue,” he added. “The only reason public time and resources were wasted on this suit is because the cabal behind Mr. Alexander’s campaign simply could not or would not understand some rather basic data entries in the voter database.”