Westmoreland, Allegheny election results certified; precinct petitions still under review
With the exception of the vote counts from five of the county’s 307 precincts, the Westmoreland County Board of Elections on Monday gave its final certification to the Nov. 8 election results.
Petitions filed challenging the results of the vote counts of the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races in five precincts — New Salem in Salem Township, Carbon 4 in Hempfield, Lower Burrell 1st ward, 1st precinct, Loyalhanna Township 1st precinct and Ligonier Borough — delayed the full certification from all precincts. The elections board on Nov. 23 pre-certified the votes in 302 precincts, but not ones where the votes had been challenged.
Westmoreland Judge Harry Smail has scheduled a hearing at 11 a.m. Tuesday for arguments on those petitions filed by people who questioned the accuracy of the voting machines and whether poll workers mishandled mail-in ballots that had been surrendered by someone trying to vote in person.
The results of the votes in those five precincts would not change the Westmoreland results in both of those statewide races. In Westmoreland, Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz beat Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in the U.S. Senate race and Republican Sen. Doug Mastriano beat Attorney General Josh Shapiro in the race for governor, but Fetterman and Shapiro won statewide.
Commissioner Sean Kertes said the county had conducted two audits of the vote count.
The board opted not to certify 95 mail-in ballots that had been segregated from the official county count on Nov. 8 because they were misdated or undated.
The League of Women Voters of Westmoreland County is willing to work with the county commissioners and the elections bureau in helping to educate the public on proper use of the voting machines, said Pamela Hrovoski, vice president of the organization.
None of those people who question the results during the Nov. 23 election board meeting issued complaints at the meeting Monday.
Greensburg resident Barbara Ferrier said she would want more specific data from those challenging the election results.
“Why are they making claims after the fact? How many real issues are there?” Ferrier said.
Allegheny County results also certified
Allegheny County’s Board of Elections voted Monday to certify the election results at 1,311 polling places but did not vote to certify results from 12 polling places where recount petitions have been filed.
A statement from county government said its lawyer was seeking to have those challenges dismissed in the coming days because the people who sought the recounts failed to also post $50 bonds for each ballot box to be recounted.
The Department of State says only “legally valid and properly filed” recount petitions can prompt a county to withhold certification for the office targeted by the recount effort.
“We will review what Allegheny submits to the department and then decide next steps,” the Department of State said in an emailed statement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.
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