Vernon Betts dismisses lawsuit for manual vote recount, concedes victory

ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts has dismissed the case after the request of a manual recount earlier this week.

Betts lost the August primary election for city sheriff to Alfred Montgomery. Shortly after, he requested a recount that was completed Sept. 4, confirming Montgomery’s victory.

Tuesday, court records state Betts was requesting a manual recount “due to the irregularities and discrepancies between the preliminary recount results and original count, which particularly calls into question the integrity and reliability of the machine recount process.”

However, just a day later, Betts has dismissed the lawsuit.

The original result of the primary race showed Montgomery up by 256 votes over Betts. The recount narrowed Montgomery’s victory to just 221 votes.

Betts has been the St. Louis City sheriff since 2017. If Montgomery wins the general election, he will take over as sheriff on Jan. 1.

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