By RANDY BARTLEY
Staff writer
The quantity of write-in votes in last week’s general election has delayed the final results in Clarion County.
“This was a high energy election for write-ins,” Cindy Callihan, the county’s director of elections, said Tuesday. “We are only about halfway through our count.”
Callihan said there were a large number of write-ins for school board seats in Keystone, Union, and Clarion-Limestone.
“There were also highly contested races for supervisors and council seats in some areas,” she said.
Callihan said that even small races that appeared to be easy to tabulate “explode” when they start the count.
Part of the problem is the variations in the spelling of a candidate’s name.
Unlike last year, mail-in ballots weren’t a problem.
“We had about 1,700 applications and about 1,500 were returned,” said Callihan. “That is more than normal but far less than last year. We have a lot of ties. Sometimes it is one vote for each candidate and sometimes we have ties in larger races.”
To resolve the ties, the county will hold a casting of lots at noon Friday, Nov. 19, to determine the winners.
The candidates will be notified by letter of the casting of lots.
The board of elections will have five days after that to certify the results. The board is composed this year of county commissioners Ted Tharan, Wayne Brosius, and Ed Heasley.
Callihan noted that with the new voting system using paper ballots again voters needed to fill in the circle on the ballot and write in the candidate’s name. Ballots were voided if that wasn’t done.
“The new system has provided about 75 percent more work but there were no major problems with it,” said Callihan. There are three people working on tabulating the ballots.
Callihan said the voter turnout was 38 percent driven by the school board races.
“This election was a big deal for write-ins,” she said.