MEMPHIS, TN - The Democrats aren't going down without a fight. After the Election Day mishap that possibly turned away thousands of voters, they say there was more behind the problem than the Election Commissioners want to admit. The Democrats held a heated meeting Thursday night where they rallied their supporters.
The day after new Shelby County leaders were sworn into office, Democrats filing a lawsuit stand by their cries the election be declared null and void. Thursday night they talked about what they're going to do about it, and they’re fired up.
It was a packed house at the Bloomfield Baptist Church in South Memphis, a familiar cry from former Shelby County Sheriff candidate Randy Wade.
“When you bend and break the bowls of justice, you're gonna hear from me,” Wade told the crowd of hundreds.
Daryl Lewis was one of those turned away at the polls. He's filled out his affidavit, filed the lawsuit, and he's ready to see some results.
“I'm confident that we've done the right thing,” said Lewis. “What I am not so confident of is that the information was looked at in a subjective manner to where the court system has sufficiently served its due. So now I'm wondering, ‘Where do we stand?’”
There were more claims from the Democrats about wrongdoing by election administrators.
“Repeat after me: “Tap, tap, tap,” Wade told the crowd. “We're coming.”
But some concerned voters are tired of the rhetoric. They're ready for action.
“My sincere hope is that we have a plan of action, because talk is cheap,” said concerned voter Edward Thomas. “What we’ve got to do now is turn things back to the, power to the people, but we’ve got to know what to do with that power. Our votes were stolen, so what are we going to do?”
Daryl Lewis says they've already waited long enough.
“If you have this many people, I don't care if it's but one person who was disenfranchised during this process, in my opinion, that is enough to overturn the vote,” said Lewis.
There were claims Thursday from the Democratic side that someone inside the election office knew about the poll problem the day before the election. The Election Commissioners say that's ridiculous. They say there was nothing done intentionally to sway the election. They're leaving it in the hands of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
The Democrats plan a march around the Election Commission in a couple weeks.
The TBI says it cannot comment on anything regarding the election investigation, just that it is ongoing.
