Jun 9, 2020 5 min read

Washington, Greene and the Westmoreland County portion of the 14th Congressional District have weighed in with results of votes cast both in person on Election Day and via mail-in ballots in the races for Democratic and Republican national nominating conventions.

Washington and Greene completed their tallies of unofficial results last week, and Westmoreland County posted information on its website Monday morning.

Elections officials in Uniontown expect to finish processing mail-in ballots later this week, so the four-county results include only in-person voting from Fayette County’s 77 precincts.

“As of now, at least 55 counties have completed their mail-ballot counts, and that is very likely to be higher by the time you publish,” wrote Pennsylvania Department of State Press Secretary Wanda Murren in response to an email inquiry early Monday afternoon.

In the four-county region, President Donald J. Trump amassed 69,916 votes as the choice to win the Republican nomination, besting William Weld’s 2,845 and Roque De La Fuente’s 832.

On the Republican ticket, incumbent U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler was running unopposed for the nomination as a congressional candidate, but he was one of 11 delegate candidates hoping to represent the district at the national presidential nominating convention.

Reschenthaler, a Peters Township resident, finished first with 45,154 votes in a field where three were to be chosen. Ballot position proved to be crucial for the other pair of elected delegates with John Ventre of Hempfield Townshp, who was listed first, making the cut for third place by garnering 17,925 votes and Scott Avolio of Unity Township, who was listed second, finishing in second place with 18,748.

Republicans could vote for up to three alternates to the convention, and Scott R. Day of Amwell Township won the first ballot position among five candidates, finishing first with 37,218 votes. Thomas J. Uram of North Strabane Township was second with 29,172 and Melanie Stringhill Patterson of Washington Township, Fayette County, also made the cut with 28,186.

Delegate candidates run by congressional district in the primary, but in presidential balloting Nov. 3, the 20 Electoral College votes in Pennsylvania take into account the popular vote across the entire state.

On the Democratic ticket, former vice president Joe Biden carried the 14th Congressional District among members of his party with 61,101 votes to Bernie Sanders’ 11,618 and Tulsi Gabbard’s 4,188.

Democrats could choose up to five delegate candidates from a field of eight. Bibiana Boerio of Unity Township, who ran unsuccessfully against Reschenthaler for Congress in 2018, finished first in delegate balloting with 70,864 votes. Christian Sesek of Brownsville was next with 53,652 votes, followed by Nate Regotti of Waynesburg with 50,869; Janice Foley of Hempfield Township, 23,389; and Casey Lynn Konopisos of North Huntingdon Township, who had the first ballot position, with 18,649.

Democratic Party rules did not call for convention alternates to run this time around.

“We are still reviewing the provisional ballots,” noted Melanie Ostrander, Washington County director of elections in an email to the Washington County commissioners, who comprise the election board this year under the direction of Chairman Diana Irey Vaughan.

Republican and Democratic voters in Washington County cast 47,956 ballots, including 22,066 mail-ins for the June 2 primary. Today at 5 p.m. is the deadline for ballots from members of the military and voters who live overseas to have their ballots counted in the June 2 primary.

The total of mail-in ballots increased slightly from last week because, for whatever reason, some of them could not be accurately scanned. Elections officials give them extra scrutiny and some go through a process known as “remaking” to ensure they’ll be counted correctly.

Greene County officials had 7,773 ballots cast and counted. Amid the threat of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the number of mail-in and absentee ballots increased by approximately 3,000 compared with previous years, but total votes cast was about average for a primary.

Greene County had received 200 to 300 absentee ballots in past elections.

The record number of mail-in ballots along with the “traditional” absentee ballots required the appointment of a six-member ballot-counting board chosen by the county commissioners and sworn in by the board of elections.

The ballot-counting board collectively invested 176 hours over three days in confirming the accuracy of the vote, that there were no duplicate votes and each vote cast, no matter the manner, was counted, according to a news release prepared by the county.

“I want to be able to look every voter in Greene County in the eye and tell them their individual vote was counted and there was no possible way inaccuracies occurred in the system – no matter which process was used for an individual to vote,” said Commission Chairman Mike Belding.

Greene Countians compared its inventory against the 110 provisional ballots that were authorized at the polling centers on June 2.

It was determined that one individual had been sent a mail-in ballot and it had been received at the election office on May 31 after poll books had been printed.

At the polling place, no call was made to the election office to verify the status of this mail-in ballot and that same individual voted at the polling center using a provisional ballot on Tuesday. But, through the procedures developed and verification, the duplicate vote was identified and the provisional ballot will not be counted.

On Monday, provisional ballots were being canvassed by the election board closing out the 2020 primary results.

Many members of the ballot counting board see this, in the words of the news release, “as good preamble to the 2020 General Election in November that will likely see a larger turnout and mail-in voter participation.”