The official election results on Perry County’s website may not have been as official as they appeared. At least when it comes to write-in votes. And the lesson is: don’t count your elections until the write-ins are tallied.
For starters, the multiple lines for write-in votes in the online version may look like they coincide with individual candidates, but the reality is each line could represent votes for multiple candidates, said Bonnie Delancey, county elections and voter registration director.
In the old reports under the previous election software, write-ins for any one position received just one line in the official results. Then election officials count the write-in names to find out who won the office. The new reports place write-ins on multiple lines, which may have caused some confusion. The county replaced its voting machines in October.
It did in at least one case when the newspaper reported election results and said it appeared a write-in candidate unseated Marysville Councilman Charles Wentzel. The incumbent received 174 votes. The top write-in line in the online results tallied 177 votes.
However, Delancey confirmed there were multiple candidates included in that number. The computers can’t read handwritten names. People writing in more than one person use more than one slot, which generates the new lines in the results. If you only use one write-in slot, then your candidate will just be added to the tally for that first slot.
Richard Stees, a retired engineer who’s been instrumental in borough recreation programs, pool renovations and other initiatives, received 111 write-in votes in the Nov. 5 election, according to the county’s write-in tallies. That’s not enough to unseat Wentzel, who emailed the newspaper last week to inquire where the larger number came from in the past story.
Previously reported write-in vote tallies should be considered preliminary results, not a total for a single candidate. But this week more is known about who received write-in votes in municipalities and could potentially take office at the beginning of the year. There were multiple municipalities where there were no candidates on the ballot.
Many write-in names are the desire of the voter, and don’t necessarily represent a campaign by the person who received the vote. The fact they received votes should not be an automatic assumption they want or will take that office. They first must respond to letters sent by the election office notifying them of the win.
Bloomfield Borough Council is one of those municipalities where that could be an issue. It has four seats that could be decided by write-ins, three four-year seats and one two-year seat.
The most write-in votes for the four-year seats went to Joseph Kevin Fitzpatrick (20), Michael Smith (15), and Brenten Dum (14). Smith also tied with Kimberly McPherson at six votes for the two-year seat. Smith can take only one of the seats. Ties are decided by chance (numbered balls in a tumbler) at noon on Nov. 22.
Just one problem: Smith, the principal at Newport Elementary School, resigned from council earlier in the year because his schedule was too busy. It’s not yet known if he would be willing to come back to council.
A similar situation happened in Duncannon. Kraig Nace, the former council president who did not run for re-election, received seven write-in votes for a four-year seat. Nace left council to concentrate on his job as Duncannon EMS operations chief, his businesses, and growing family. It’s not expected that he would return to council.
Councilman Mike Wolfersberger, appointed earlier in the year, was elected to his seat with 92 write-in votes. Councilman Karl Conrad received nine write-in votes. He hasn’t expressed a desire to leave council, but it’s not known if he would accept.
Landisburg was another borough where write-ins will play a significant role on council.
Five people received write-in votes for council. The four-year write-ins were Larry Baum (13), Douglas Gust (8), Richard Garber (7), and Janice Baughman (7), according to the county. Douglas Morrison received one write-in vote for the two-year council seat.
In Blain, David Cauffman received 20 write-in votes and Michael Worthington received five for the four-year council seats. Cauffman also received three write-ins for the two-year seat.
Christian Holler received two write-in votes for New Buffalo council, and Mary Beth Bucher received 80 votes for Newport council.
The county election bureau sent letters out to all qualified write-in candidates last week and those individuals needed to reply this week on whether they were accepting the office or declining. Any offices not filled by the election can be appointed by sitting councils. The election office will break tied races on Friday.
Jim T. Ryan can be reached via e-mail at jtryan@perrycountytimes.com
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November 23, 2019 at 07:02PM
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Local election results await write-in assent - PennLive.com
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