Monday’s scheduled hearing of the Lehigh County Election Board was postponed when the state legislative candidate at the center of the issue amended her complaint to include alleged misconduct by board solicitor John Ashcraft.

Enid Santiago, who lost the Democratic primary for the 22nd District race to incumbent Peter Schweyer by just 55 votes, has made allegations of irregularities during the June 2 primary.

Some of the irregularities were confirmed by the board’s chief clerk of registration and elections, Tim Benyo, in June, but he said they did not affect the outcome of the election.

He rejected Santiago’s call for a new election, saying that the board does not have the authority to order a new election and that her appeals for a recount and other corrective measures came after the state-mandated deadline.

With the allegations against Ashcraft, the board said it would postpone the meeting, which was to be held to go over Santiago’s complaints to determine whether to ask county District Attorney Jim Martin for a criminal investigation.

An independent attorney must be appointed in Ashcraft’s place to represent the election board. The board expects this will be done at Wednesday’s county commissioners meeting.