Westmoreland to break 200 election ties with draws from a jar

More than 200 races in this month’s municipal election in Westmoreland County ended in ties.

The county election board on Tuesday issued a precertification of the results of the hundreds of races that appeared on the Nov. 4 ballot after tallying more than 22,000 write-in votes, said Election Bureau Director Scott Ross.

The board is scheduled to issue a final certification on Nov. 24.

Results, including write-in totals, were posted Tuesday on the county’s website.

The results include ties in races for auditor seats in Bell, Upper Burrell and St. Clair townships, tax collector in Seward and two council seats in Sutersville.

Ross said the election bureau will also break ties in 83 local races for judges of elections and another 133 races for election inspectors.

In most of those cases, multiple candidates received one write-in vote.

Voters in each of the county’s 306 voting precincts were to elect judges and inspectors of elections, the people charged with overseeing the polls on Election Day. Pennsylvania is among the few states in which those are elected positions.

Ross said most of those offices in Westmoreland County did not have candidates on the ballot and will be decided through the write-in vote tallies.

Ties will be broken at noon on Nov. 21 at the courthouse. Candidates involved in those tied races can appear in person and draw a numbered pill from a glass jar to determine the winner. Election bureau staff will draw for candidates who do not attend, Ross said.