Avella School Board election results in a tie
Three candidates ran Nov. 5 for two seats to represent Region III of Avella School District. While one was elected outright, the other two candidates are tied for the second seat.
With the Washington County Canvass Board scheduled to wrap up its duties, Republican Summer Miller, as the top vote-getter with 239 in Independence Township, is assured of being elected.
But Melanie Ostrander, Washington County elections director, said Democrat Terry Jacobs Jr. and Republican Jeffrey W. Devenney each received 181 votes.
The total on the Washington County election results website shows Jacobs one vote shy of a tie, but these unofficial tabulations from election night do not include absentee and provisional ballots.
The elections office will notify these candidates and any others facing a tie to report to a series of tie-breaking drawings at the Courthouse Square office building at a date to be announced.
By law, school boards reorganize for the year in early December, so the drawing for the second Independence Township seat in the Avella district should take place before then.
While Devenney and Jacobs battle it out, other candidates in municipal contests found themselves elected to more than one office.
Joseph Sopcak, a candidate for both a six-year and four-year term on the Fallowfield Township board of supervisors, was unopposed in each race.
Charles E. Trax Jr. was elected to six-year and two-year terms on the Union Township Board of Supervisors, and in New Eagle, Saundra L. Bobnar won four-year and two-year terms on borough council.
Ostrander said the procedure is to notify municipal candidates who were elected to more than one seat and ask them to choose. The remaining seat or seats are to be filled by the governing body’s vacancy board.
The Washington County Elections Board met Nov. 7 to evaluate 37 provisional ballots. One of the ballots they considered came from Canonsburg’s Third Ward, First Precinct.
A voter who was duly registered at an address within the district cast a provisional ballot with a notation that his voter access card would not permit him to finish casting his votes via the touchscreen machine.
Board member John Tecklenburg was absent, so the decision on whether to count the person’s vote was up to Chairman William Knestrick and board member Erin Dickerson, both of whom are attorneys.
They split their decision, with Knestrick wanting to accept the provisional ballot while Dickerson questioned if the man could be voting twice, once by machine and again by provisional paper ballot.
Ostrander retrieved records for the precinct in question, which showed 230 ballots cast on the machines but 231 voters checking in that day. The provisional ballot was a straight-party vote, and the Nov. 5 election was the swan song for this type of vote in Pennsylvania.
In light of the evidence, Dickerson changed her decision and the votes on the provisional ballot were to be fully counted by the canvass board.
Chips on the voter access cards sometimes malfunction, and one remedy for card error is to clean them.
Ostrander said Thursday, “We had that happen with a couple of precincts.”
According to the elections office, more Republicans cast straight-party votes in Washington County than Democrats in the recent municipal election.
The straight-party totals for Republican candidates were 6,731 and 5,648 for Democratic Party nominees. The totals include votes cast on Election Day plus absentee ballots.