Yahoo News Board certifies election via overseas call
May 14—The Lawrence County Board of Elections had to phone one of its members on a European vacation to get enough votes to certify the April 23 primary.
Monday was the deadline to certify the results of the primary, but the board of elections — comprised of the three county commissioners — found itself in a quandary over how to go about it. The resolve was to contact member Christopher Sainato during his vacation overseas to have him vote by phone.
As a result, he and board member and Chairman Dan Vogler, in person at the meeting, cast the needed votes to approve the final election results.
The board advertised to resume its public meeting at 8:30 a.m. Monday, but member and Commissioner Dan Kennedy was unable to attend because of an unexpected medical issue. With Sainato out of the country and Kennedy indisposed, that left Vogler as the only member with a quorum was needed.
The meeting had been in recess since the day before the primary. Vogler noted Sainato's participation in the meeting by phone was "perfectly legal" for the board to be able to finalize the results.
"This was a very successful election," Tim Germani, county elections director reported. The voter turnout was low statewide and in Lawrence County, he said. He acknowledged workers in every courthouse department participated in the election in some way.
Germani reported his office received seven naked ballots that were not counted. A "naked ballot" is a write-in or absentee ballot that is returned in a regular envelope without being contained inside in a secrecy envelope. Another 16 ballots were not counted because the outer envelopes had no dates or signatures on them.
Germani reported after the meeting none of the races had enough write-in votes to declare any other candidates than those who are already on the ballots for the November general election.
A total of 13,833 ballots were cast in Lawrence County, with a 28.23 percent voter turnout.
All of the vote tallies and results are available on the county's website at lawrencecuountypa.gov by clicking on the red and white seal that says "Election Results."
