Court Rules in Favor of Concordia Sheriff- (Lipsey has 24 hours to appeal)
by Jennifer Townley - KNOE Channel 8 (CBS) (excerpt)

A Louisiana Appeals Court has ruled that the October 20th election results that gave another term to incumbent Concordia Sheriff Randy Maxwell will stand. TV8's Jennifer Townley reports challenger Glenn Lipsey must now decide if he will take his appeal to the state's highest court.

Glenn Lipsey and his attorney are disappointed with the ruling from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Lipsey claims he would have beaten incumbent Sheriff Randy Maxwell in the October 20th primary, if it weren't for a number of voter irregularities, such as people voting in Concordia Parish who don't live there.

A civil trial earlier this month ended with state Judge Sharon Marchman ruling that Lipsey could show that only nine people voted improperly, but those votes wouldn't change the election.

The Appeals Court judges upheld that decision, much to Lipsey's disappointment.

Lipsey says, "we think that regardless of this care, the election laws in Louisiana need to be looked into."

His attorney Andy Magoun says, "we're frustrated with it. Obviously we're disappointed in the fact that we can't find a district judge or an appellate court judge that will address the fact that people testified in open court that their jobs were tied to registering to vote in Concordia Parish, when plainly they don't live here by their testimony."

In upholding the decision, The appeals court said "The burden is on the candidate to challenge possibly unqualified voters prior to votes being cast."

But with just 12 votes separating Maxwell from his challenger, it may be some time before we learn how well the parish can move past the election.

Lipsey has 24 hours to appeal the courts decision to the Louisiana Supreme Court.