Attorneys for City Council Member Greg Casar have filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by the candidate he soundly defeated in December’s runoff, Laura Pressley. Pressley has her own definition of what should be counted and claims that Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir did not follow the appropriate procedures during the December runoff nor during the January recount. Casar won by 1,291 votes. During her deposition, Pressley complained that eliminating the polling site at Highland Mall disproportionately affected those who might have been planning to vote for her. DeBeauvoir points out that voters are not restricted to any specific polling place and that there were several nearby locations available. Either way you slice it, according to Chuck Herring, Casar’s attorney, Pressley cannot come up with an argument that overcomes a 65 to 35 percent difference in votes. No date has been set for the hearing on the motion to dismiss, but DeBeauvoir’s deposition is set for May 11.
Jo Clifton is the Politics Editor for the Austin Monitor. More by Jo Clifton