Investigations escalate in unresolved North Philadelphia election

    142 separate the two candidates in a mostly Latino neighborhood

    Nearly a month after the May 18th primary, no result has been certified in a bitterly contested legislative race in North Philadelphia . One candidate appeared before city election officials to ask them to investigate charges of voter fraud.

    The state attorney general’s office is already looking into candidate Jonathan Ramos’ allegations that incumbent state representative Angel Cruz and his allies bullied voters and stole votes on election day. Ramos’ attorney Kevin Greenberg told Philadelphia city commissioners he’s found several polling places in Cruz’s 7th ward where machines show more Democratic votes cast than Democratic voters who showed up.

    “There is very clearly throughout the district problems with these machines. Somebody got to them and recorded votes”

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    Cruz denies wrongdoing. but so far won’t respond directly to Ramos charges. City election officials told Ramos they’d take the matter under advisement. With the unofficial count giving Cruz a 142 vote lead, a court will eventually have to decide who won the race.

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