Attorney Henry Pitts faced the five-member panel from the State Democratic Executive Committee Tuesday and brought it all to a close with two simple sentences.

With those words, the election contest of the Alabama House of Representatives District 67 seat now rests in the hands of panel members Terry Davis, Mildred Worthy, Amy Burks, Cleo Thomas and Lena Hardaway.

The contest was filed by LaTosha Brown, who lost the June 25 Democratic primary runoff to Salaam by 138 votes.

In a surprise move, attorneys for Brown did not call Salaam to testify &045; a decision that Brown said she personally made. Speaking of her opponent in the race, Brown said, &uot;I understand that he has a daughter who is very sick and we feel this was an important time for him to be with his family. We feel that we have made our case and that it is not necessary to call Mister Salaam to testify.&uot;

Her attorneys then rested their case. After a short recess, Pitts announced that Salaam would call no witnesses and the defense also rested. Davis, the chairman, then announced that the panel would reach a decision in the case no later than Monday and possibly sooner.

Brown had claimed that a combination of voting illegalities combined to account for the 138-vote margin of victory for Salaam. Among the illegalities her attorneys presented evidence for included a systematic Republican crossover vote, voters who cast their ballots in the wrong district race, and one box of election returns that had inexplicably been opened.

For his part, Salaam said, &uot;The election contest is over as of today. I am the winner, and I hope to remain the winner.&uot;

After Monday’s contentious session, in which Salaam was ejected from the courtroom for an emotional outburst and one of his attorneys admonished by a panel member, Davis met with attorneys for both sides privately before the start of the session Tuesday.

At one point during the proceedings Tuesday, Pitts turned to panel members and earnestly entreated, &uot;I’m not trying to be argumentative.&uot;

At the conclusion of Tuesday’s session, Pitts told panel members, &uot;If I have offended any member of this committee, I apologize.&uot;

Davis accepted the apology on behalf of the other members, adding, &uot;This has been interesting to say the least. These kinds of issues are never easy. You all have to live here. I hope that things are better because of what happened here.&uot;