Ramos Seeks To Overturn Election For 180th State House Seat

Jonathan Ramos asked the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas today to overturn the results of the May 18 Democratic primary election for the state House's 180th District seat, which he lost to state Rep. Angel Cruz.  Ramos, in his court filing, complains that Cruz and his brother, Luis, and other supporters tried to remove judges of election from polling places through fraud and intimidation, took election materials like voting machine tapes away from polling places in the 7th Ward -- where Cruz is the ward leader -- before turning them in to the city's Board of Elections and still have not returned some tapes and other election materials.

"The fraud and error was sufficiently widespread to reverse the will of the electorate as the preliminary tabulation shows Candidate Cruz defeating Candidate Ramos by 124 votes," the court filing said.  Board of Election results show the gap to be 142 votes but the Ramos camp said that comes down to 124 when you count absentee ballots and provisional ballots.

Ramos asks the court to order the Board of Elections and Secretary of State to not certify the results of the election, to order an investigation and to take any other appropriate action, "including, but not limited to, instructing the Board of Elections and the Secretary of the Commonwealth to certify Candidate Ramos as the winner."

The state Attorney General's Office just told PhillyClout that the District Attorney Office has referred to it two complaints already filed by the Ramos camp and that this latest move will be folded into that.  Ramos, who obtained a court order on Election Day telling Ramos and his supporters to stop allegedly intimidating voters and blocking election officials, asked the DA's office on May 27 to investigate the election.