Posted on 12/08/2016 2:01:35 PM PST by katnip
WEST CHESTER >> The Common Pleas Court judge’s decision allowing for more than a dozen provisional ballots cast in the race for the 156th Legislative District seat has paved the way for an eventual hand recount of the votes cast in the tight race and, ultimately, a decision on who has won.
But that recount will take a back seat, at least temporarily, to a hand recount of the results of the presidential race in Chester County, a recount demanded by supporters of failed Green Party candidate Jill Stein and some disappointed Democrats.
On Thursday, the county Board of Elections voted unanimously, but somewhat reluctantly, to count the ballots in 143 of the county’s 228 precincts by hand. Under the state’s Election Code, if three people in a given precinct request a recount, the county must adhere to that in presidential elections, even without evidence of tampering or mistake.
The Stein campaign had presented the board, made up of all three county commissioners, with petitions asking for a recount from voters in 151 precincts, but election officials found that some of the people petitioning for the recount were either not registered to vote, or had registered in another precinct than the one they signed a petition for.
“This is crazy,” said Commissioner Michele Kichline. “This isn’t going to change the results of the (presidential) election. It is very frustrating for me to have to put everybody through this. But it is what it is. We follow the law.”
The attorney for the Stein campaign who appeared at Thursday’s session, Ali Frick of Philadelphia, could not be reached for comment.
The recount was scheduled to begin Thursday afternoon at the county’s Government Services building, and expected to last through the weekend. County officials are trying to recruit employees to conduct the hand count of each ballot.
Only the candidates, their attorneys, and two representatives from each party are permitted to witness the recount. There will be no challenges to the ballots during the recount process, according to a statement issued by the county after the board’s decision.
On Dec. 2, unofficial county results in the presidential race showed Democrat Hillary Clinton leading all candidates with 141,694 votes, followed by Republican Donald J. Trump, now president-elect, who had 116,147. Stein lagged far behind in the race, with 2,253 ballots cast, or .83 percent.
Commissioner Kathi Cozzone, the board’s lone Democrat, said that the board’s hands were tied in approving the recount because of the section of the state’s Election Code dealing with presidential elections.
“Unlike many other parts of our Election Code that are confusing, this section didn’t leave any wiggle room,” Cozzone said Thursday. “The recount needs to move forward. We don’t have a choice.”
The Stein campaign has contested the results of the Pennsylvania presidential results, which showed Trump winning, saying that there is the possibility that the results might have been hacked, although it has not offered any specific evidence of that allegation.
Cozzone said she did not believe that the county’s vote was suspicious in any way. “We have a lot of checks and balances in place in Chester County,” she said. “I am not anticipating an outcome that is different than what was tabulated on election night.
A hearing in federal court in Philadelphia is scheduled for Friday on the Stein campaign’s petition for a full recount. That decision would not involve the recount approved by the county election board, however, since the petitioners did meet the requirements of having three voters form each precinct petition for such a step.
In the county, the presidential recount is expected to last through Sunday and require 80 paid employees working full eight- to 10- hour shifts. The estimated cost is $15,000.
“I’m not happy about spending taxpayer dollars and time and resources on speculative claims,” Kichline stated. Allegations of election hacking may be applicable elsewhere, she and Cozzone agreed, but in the county the system is backed up by paper ballots.
By coincidence, it was the unresolved question of the 156th District results that left open the door for the Stein campaign’s action in Chester County. Other counties had already certified their election results, and requests there for recounts were transferred from county election boards to Common Pleas Courts.
The 156th race pitted incumbent Republican state Rep. Daniel Truitt against West Chester Mayor Carolyn Comitta, a Democrat. On election night, Truitt appeared to have won the race by some 70 votes, but as absentee ballots and other votes were added, Comitta took the lead as it stands now, unofficially, by 18 votes.
The county Office of Voter Services had denied a number of provisional ballots cast in the race, which Comitta’s campaign challenged. On Nov. 22, the election board voted 2-1 to dismiss the challenges of 15 votes cast. The majority, 14 ballots, had been denied because the county election officials contended their voter registration applications had not been filed by the state mandated deadline — a position Truitt’s campaign supported.
Attorneys for Comitta, however, argued to President Judge Jacqueline Carroll Cody in a Dec. 1 hearing, that the 14 applications had been filed, properly, with the Department of State’s election bureau on or before the deadline, and that the provisional ballots cast by those voters should count in the total results.
On Wednesday, Cody issued a terse order supporting Comitta’s position, and making the 14 ballots part of the results.
Comitta said she remains uncertain what the new 14 ballots will mean to her lead — increase it, decrease it, or leave it unchanged.
“It’s 50-50,” she said in an interview Thursday.
“All I can say is that from the start we carefully reviewed the provisional ballots, and we challenged the ones we thought were proper. It is right that they be counted in a race this close. The voters have spoken and they have the right to have their voices heard.”
Truitt said that although he was disappointed in Cody’s decision, he would not appeal it. “It is dragging things out,” he said. “We don’t want any more delays.”
Truitt said he would request a hand recount as soon as the county’s election results are certified, as the law requires in state legislative district elections. As of Thursday morning, his campaign had signed petitions from 80 of the 90 voters needed to recount the results in all 30 of the district’s precincts.
They can have their recount, but the Pa Secretary of State certification should still stand, and the state’s electors still vote, Trump still wins Pa, and the Presidency.
Jill Stein, master of farce.
I wish Jillary Clintonstein would just give up.
Chester County is very red.
Did the Pa. Secretary of State certify the election? I cannot find that he has.
No, I believe that is scheduled for Monday
> if three people in a given precinct request a recount, [] some of the people petitioning for the recount were either not registered to vote, or had registered in another precinct than the one they signed a petition for.
Wouldn’t that void the petition for that precinct
That’s what I would think. Also, I thought that there was a cutoff date by state law that they could do this kind of petition.
Otherwise they would be able to do it forever!
The ClinToons must be paying ‘Jill The Shill’ plenty money.....
here’s a question:
what PROOF do they have that the votes being counted were cast properly?
ie: cast by a living citizen in their home district and nowhere else
looks like they might have....stein filed for 151 and only got 143.
crazy...
Not according to the unoffical results:
On Dec. 2, unofficial county results in the presidential race showed Democrat Hillary Clinton leading all candidates with 141,694 votes, followed by Republican Donald J. Trump, now president-elect, who had 116,147. Stein lagged far behind in the race, with 2,253 ballots cast, or .83 percent.
That’s weird. Aside from West Chester Borough, all I saw were Trump signs everywhere. Not one Hillary sign in the rest of my time...
Laws are written with reasonable men in mind. Laws cannot cope well with unreasonable, uncivil society.
It is extremely hard to write a law that would allow normal citizens to make reasonable requests for recounts when they have real concerns, that can’t be exploited by charlatans who are trying to raise money or cause political trouble.
Sometimes, a good media can provide factual reporting that will lead to mocking, ridicule, and otherwise shaming of these people — but our media is instead championing these malcontents.
Chester County has always been heavily Republican. The town of West Chester (the Country seat) may lean blue because of West Chester University.
I’m still lost here. Trump (if I read this right) carried PA by 68,236 votes. What gives? How can the result remotely change?
Yeah, Hillary won by 9 points. Bucks County is the “redder” Philly suburb, where she only one by 1 point.
Trump already lost a third of his winning margin in PA since the election day totals before any recount even started, as the final official counts came in.
She's making money hand over fist.
Speaking of graft, some guy started one of those on-line petitions asking the electors to vote for Hillary because she won the popular vote. He linked it to a GoFundMe account and in three weeks has already collected nearly $200,000 in donations.
I really need to figure out a way to separate heartbroken Hillary voters from their money. It's the best scam going right now.
“Trump (if I read this right) carried PA by 68,236 votes.”
Actually its down to about 44,000 after absentee ballots were counted but it’s still far, far more than any recount has ever made up.
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