Allen West recount nears completion; Results expected by noon; Update: Murphy declares victory due to missed deadline; Emergency hearing requested; Update: St. Lucie recount shows Murphy widened his lead over West

As Twitchy reported last night, the recount in the highly-contested Florida race between Rep. Allen West and challenger Patrick Murphy was halted last night and was set to resume this morning.

As of 11 a.m. ET, it appears to be wrapping up.

Workers have finished feeding ballots in scanners in West-Murphy recount; awaiting upload of memory cards

— Matt Sedensky (@Sedensky) November 18, 2012

ALLEN WEST RECOUNT…I Just hung up with Gary Angelo Galiano: They will absolutely have this done before Noon!!!on… http://t.co/aTw4CMEw

— Evelio Perez (@VEK1908) November 18, 2012

https://twitter.com/AllenWestRepub/status/270192204729942016

Recount Nears Completion in #AllenWest, #PatrickMurphy Race (Deadline is noon Sunday) http://t.co/iV8N8Ju3

— NBC 6 South Florida (@nbc6) November 18, 2012

Should hear by noon today on Allen West recount! Looking good so far!

— Oohoo (@Oohoo3) November 18, 2012

They are done counting the ballots for Allen West..now we wait and see

— Suzie Watkins (@suziewatkins) November 18, 2012

As Twitchy also reported, West only needs a small number of votes to trigger a mandatory hand recount.

Twitchy will continue to monitor and will update as soon as the results are available.

Update:

In 15 minutes we will know whether Allen West closed the gap enough to force an automatic state recount.He only needs 249 votes 4 recount

— Chris (@atrdchris) November 18, 2012

Update:

https://twitter.com/gwardhome/status/270213249990025216

Huh. They stopped the recount last night and now deadline missed?

Florida Rep. Allen West’s reelection prospects grew dimmer Sunday, as a recount of early ballots showed him falling further behind his Democratic opponent.

Democrat Patrick Murphy, a 29-year-old construction company executive, gained 242 votes after the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections completed its re-tabulation, increasing his lead to more than 2,100 votes over West, a tea party hero. Murphy’s lead is just outside the 0.5 percent margin that would trigger an automatic district-wide recount under Florida law.

According to WPTV, Patrick Murphy’s team is declaring victory (again):

Murphy campaign senior advisor Eric Johnson was quick to reaffirm victory.

“As far as we’re concerned, this puts an end to it,” Johnson said. “The West people demanded a recount. They got that retabulation and Patrick Murphy gained a margin of 242 votes.”

West isn’t ready to concede:

Don't expect any West concession/decision to come today, his advisers say http://t.co/IShbPw4F

— Alex Isenstadt (@politicoalex) November 18, 2012

Weighing his options:

Allen West camp re: Murphy winning St Lucie County (again): "We will review the results of today's recount … to determine how to proceed."

— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) November 18, 2012

Statement from West’s campaign manager, Tim Edson:

Stuart, FL – West for Congress campaign manager Tim Edson released the following statement following the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections’ failure to complete retabulation of the votes in time for the certification deadline:

“Why is it so hard for Supervisor of Elections, Gertrude Walker, to fairly and accurately count the results of an election? Today’s actions cast an even greater cloud of suspicion over the results of St. Lucie County than existed before. Consequently, the highly-suspect results will be submitted to the Secretary of State today – even though the canvassing board has already admitted they may contain serious errors.

Once again, Gertrude Walker has proven to be absolutely incapable of executing an accurate and fair election. This election is far from over. We will continue to fight on behalf of all voters in District 18 to ensure a fair and accurate count of their votes.

The only thing voters should find more outrageous than the conduct of the Supervisor of Elections is the fact that Patrick Murphy and his father’s high-priced legal team are once again declaring victory, despite knowing full well that the results of this election are highly suspect. It’s clear Patrick Murphy puts his own interests ahead of the people he claims he wishes to represent.”