Congressman Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) concludes his victory speech on Nov. 2 after being reelected as the representative from Missouri’s third congressional district. Carnahan won by over 4,000 votes, but Republican Ed Martin has not yet conceded the race.

As of Tuesday’s final count, Martin trailed by 4,400 of approximately 200,000 district votes. But the election was too close to call until around midnight, and the Martin campaign has pointed to a late-night influx of heavy Carnahan votes from seven city precincts as reason for investigation.

Martin also points to the fact that Congressman Carnahan’s sister, Robin Carnahan, reported having irregularities and computer glitches early on Election Day last Tuesday.

These irregularities, according to Robin Carnahan’s staff, arose when voters arrived and found that their names were not on the poll books. Local election officials were unable to verify their voting status because servers were overrun.

Washington University is located in the 3rd Congressional district. On Tuesday, several students complained of confusion at the polls, including being turned away after requesting provisional ballots.

“Because the Secretary of State’s database was not working from about 7 a.m. until close to 3 p.m., we have heard reports about problems with provisional voting throughout the district, including precincts in and around Wash. U.,” Martin wrote in an email to Student Life. “This is a fundamental duty of the Secretary of State and a real problem. We are still exploring if people were disenfranchised and how it impacted the election.”

The Martin campaign has suggested that an independent investigator be hired because of the family ties between Robin and Russ Carnahan. Normally, the voting inquiry would be the responsibility of the Missouri secretary of state.

Martin is not sure what options are available, but is working hard to figure out what to do next. Though his loss margin is well beyond the 1 percent margin at which a recount can be requested, Martin can legally challenge the election until Carnahan is sworn into office again on Nov. 16.