Yusuf Salaam, officially, is the Democratic Party’s nominee for the Alabama House of Representatives District 67 seat.

LaTosha Brown, officially, has vowed to continue the fight.

For nearly a month, a Democratic Party executive committee panel has weighed a contest filed by Brown claiming Salaam received an inordinate amount of &uot;crossover&uot; votes during the June 25 run-off. She also contended illegal votes were cast and the seal on one box containing ballots was improperly removed.

Brown was unable to be reached for comment Sunday, but her attorney, April England Albright, issued a brief statement on behalf of her client.

According to John Kelly, who joined Henry Pitts in the representation of Salaam, Brown has 10 days to file an appeal with the entire Alabama Democratic Party Executive Committee. Salaam then has 10 days to file a response.

However, Kelly feels confident an appeal by Brown would not go very far.

Salaam, who has juggled this election contest with the serious illness of his daughter, said he would leave that decision to Brown.

In a ruling released the Democratic Party’s five-member panel, Chairman Terry Davis wrote that there was not &uot;tantamount&uot; evidence that irregularities caused Salaam to win more votes than Brown. The panel also said Brown &uot;did not present sufficient evidence to substantiate&uot; the claim that Salaam encouraged crossover voting.

The Democratic Party has a rule that constituents who voted in the Republican Party cannot vote in the Democratic run-off.

With the possibility of an appeal, Pitts believes Salaam will emerge victorious.

Meanwhile, Salaam was happy with the way his attorneys handled the case &045;&045; especially in an atmosphere that could have bred disaster.

He also believes his attorneys made &uot;a brilliant tactical move&uot; when they filed suit against the Democratic Party alleging the crossover rule was illegal.

Mark Story, the Republican candidate who will face Salaam in the Nov. 5 general election, said he hopes the committee’s decision &uot;puts an end to all of this. I hope it puts Selma back to normal.

Story, who was a silent observer during the election contest, did not like what happened to voters who were called to testify about how they voted.

Story believes the Democratic Party has too much control over its voters, and he does think the election contest proceedings will affect the November election.

Barring an appeal and a overturning by the entire Democratic Executive Committee, Salaam believes Selma will move forward from this event.

From the experience, Salaam said he learned something else about politics in general.

Rev. Glenn King, who finished third behind Brown and Salaam in the June 4 primary, thinks the decision by the Democratic panel was the right decision.

Calls placed to Albright were not returned, and unsuccessful attempts were made to reach Collins Pettaway, another attorney for Brown.