A federal judge has denied a petition by Democrat congressional candidate Eliott Rodriguez to force Miami-Dade's elections chief off the canvassing board reviewing his election results.
Rodriguez sued Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections (SOE) Alina Garcia of a conflict of interest for declaring to the Miami Herald that incumbent Republican María Elvira Salazar the winner of the Congressional District 27 race "with or without a recount" before an official ballot review in the extremely tight race.
Additionally, Garcia's own daughter and son-in-law work for the legal firm representing Salazar for recount proceedings.
U.S. District Judge David S. Leibowitz noted at a Monday morning hearing that Garcia's comment was "a really dumb statement to make," but ultimately found that the allegations were not enough to force Garcia to recuse herself from the county's elections canvassing board.
"While we were disappointed in the result of the hearing, we were vindicated in the fact that the Court acknowledged that our concerns indeed had merit and that the Supervisor of Elections committed a grave error in her statement to the press regarding this race," J.C. Planas, an attorney for Rodriguez, told WLRN. "Our mission remains to ensure that propriety returns to the office that we rely on to preserve our democracy."
READ MORE: As CD27 recount looms, Rodriguez sues to bench elections chief over ‘conflict of interest’
As the court's order came down Monday, the recount in the CD 27 race between Rodriguez and Salazar is still underway. On election night, Salazar was ahead by slightly more than 1,000 votes — a difference of less than half a percentage point, which automatically triggers a ballot review and recount process.
Judge Leibowitz noted that Garcia is only one of three members of the canvassing board, and the other two members are local judges, so she cannot singlehandedly have an influence on the recount results.
Garcia has staunchly held that there is "no conflict" and she has no need to recuse herself. Her her son-in-law, attorney Robert Fernandez, is the lawyer representing Salazar for the review and recount process.
Fernandez's wife Alyn Fernandez, who is Garcia's daughter, works for the same law firm as her husband — and attended a meeting of the canvassing board on Friday. Rodriguez's camp alleges she was there on behalf of the company, which her firm denies.
Garcia is Miami-Dade's first partisan elections supervisor after Florida law required the position be an elected office, rather than appointed by the county mayor. During Garcia's first midterm election as SOE, she has faced multiple calls for recusal owing to her public comments and advocacy for items on the ballots she oversees.
