William Shoell was re-elected president of the American Federation of Government Employees local here by a 15-vote margin that brought allegations by the challenger of rules violations.
Tom Montez, who had 177 votes to Shoell's 140 in the May 5 election that set up the runoff, said he believes ballots were not counted that could have secured his victory the first time.Shoell brushed off the allegations as far-fetched, unsubstantiated and having no bearing on the outcome of the elections for AFGE Local 1592.
In turn, Montez, the union's educational vice president, was accused of misrepresenting himself as acting president by John Benson, the executive vice president and the presidential candidate eliminated in the first election.
Montez countered that he was within his authority.
The runoff election votes were counted Saturday, and the presidential race ended with Shoell getting 298 votes to 283 for Montez.
Montez said the mail-in election was marred by a notice that incorrectly said the runoff would be in June and by a ballot that omitted one candidate and had another listed under two offices.
Shoell said the errors were corrected and did not affect results.
"Somebody did not (proof) it," he said of the bad ballot.
Montez included the errors in allegations filed with the union that name Shoell, Benson and the candidates running on both of their tickets. Montez also named Connie Chandler and Raola Swapp, two members of the committee responsible for mailing and counting the ballots.
In violation of rules, Montez said, Swapp removed mail including ballots from the election post office box before the day they were to be counted.
A ballot is sent in two envelopes, the outermost with the voter's name. That allows a secret ballot but also for candidates to find out who voted.
Montez said that by checking with people at his work directorate at Hill, he found 56 members who said they voted but whose ballots weren't counted.
Shoell said Monday that he didn't want to get into a detailed rebuttal but added, "His charges are so far-fetched. The substantiation is not there."
Montez said he hopes to get the matter before an investigator of the federal Office of Labor Management Standards because he doesn't expect an objective hearing in the union.
Three other candidates for lower offices ran on Shoell's ticket, which is like a political party. Montez had three other people on his ticket, including two incumbents who got enough votes May 5 to avoid a runoff, Treasurer William Harper and Secretary Bess Jensen.