DOVER, Del. (AP) - The state Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from the Republican candidate in last year's recorder of deeds race in Kent County.
The court ruled Thursday that a judge should have dismissed a petition filed by La Mar Gunn challenging the election results, rather than ordering a hand recount. That recount ended in a tie, and Democratic Gov. Jack Markell appointed Democratic incumbent Betty Lou McKenna to the office.
The judge ordered the recount after Gunn, who won two earlier recounts by the county board of canvass, argued that election officers engaged in "malconduct" when the board certified a third recount that McKenna won.
But the Supreme Court said Gunn's petition was invalid because two other judges sitting as the board of canvass were not "election officers" under Delaware law.
