A recount shows a Northwestern Louisiana parish elected a Democrat by one vote out of more than 43,000 cast.
Caddo Parish elected Democrat Henry Whitehorn to become the parish's first new sheriff in 24 years.
Whitehorn, the former head of the Louisiana State Police, beat Shreveport City Council Member John Nickelson in a Nov. 18 runoff election. Initial results showed Whitehorn received 21,621 votes to Nickelson's 20,620.
The Board of Election supervisors announced on Monday that both candidates had received three additional votes during the recount, but the margin between them remained the same.
During the recount process, 7,000 mail-in ballots were analyzed using an optical scanner machine.
However, Nickelson's campaign claims it's seen at least seven votes that are illegitimate. In a letter to Sheriff-elect Whitehorn, Nickelson wrote that at least five of the 43,241 votes tallied were from deceased individuals.
Nickelson intends to use every legal means at his disposal to contest the election outcome, starting with a lawsuit challenging the results.
KTAL-TV has the latest from Shreveport:
According to the Caddo Parish Clerk of Courts, Henry Whitehorn and Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin are names as defendants in the suit.
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Six more votes were found during the recount, but Henry Whitehorn managed to stay one vote ahead Nickelson, in the race for Caddo Sheriff.
Candidates and their representatives stood by as the votes for Caddo Parish Sheriff were recounted to see who would win the seat of Caddo Parish Sheriff after a single vote determined the winner on Nov. 18. Henry Whitehorn barely won the election against John Nickelson.
On Saturday, Nickelson asked his opponent to support a recount and a second runoff election. For the recount, they will scan all the early votes again and address any problems. It will also focus on mail-in ballots.
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