A lawsuit challenging the election of Republican Barbara Wasinger in House District 111 has been dropped.
The lawsuit, brought by seven voters in early December, was dismissed Thursday afternoon, a court official confirmed.
It effectively hands the race to Wasinger, who defeated Democratic Rep. Eber Phelps by 35 votes.
“It’s always a good thing to have a court case dismissed,” Wasinger said in an interview Friday. “It saddens me that they weren’t able to accept the results of the race.”
She said she thought the challenge was an attempt to cast doubt on the validity of her election. “I think that’s why they filed the suit,” she said.
The attorney for the challengers could not be reached for comment Friday.
The challengers contended in their court filing that 12-year-old voting machines were not properly maintained and malfunctioned on Election Day.
They also accused the county clerk of making her own decisions about which provisional ballots should be counted and which ones shouldn’t.
She also was accused of deciding not to count mail-in ballots that should have been counted and allowed some voters to withdraw their votes after they had been mailed and received.
A second challenge is still pending in Johnson County, where Republican Adam Thomas’ election in House District 26 is being contested over questions about his residency.
Thomas won his race against Democrat Deann Mitchell despite facing charges of election fraud for allegedly misrepresenting where he lived when he filed to run for the Legislature. He won the race by more than 1,000 votes.
A state elections panel set aside a challenge to Thomas’ legal residency in Olathe last September. His next court appearance on his criminal charge is set for Jan. 9.
