Counting write-ins, by hand, in Lebanon County
(Harrisburg) — Write-in votes from Tuesday’s primary election are getting counted this morning in Lebanon County, andthe county’s election board might be at work for the whole day.
Voters wrote in 2,300 names on ballots for the 102nd House race in the county.
Republican Russ Diamond has the lead, with 1,927 votes, and about 1,600 ballots had a write-in.
“There have certainly been races in the past where write-in votes determined whether or not someone would make it on the ballot. In recent memory, this is probably one of the largest, if not the largest, numbers of votes for one particular office,” saysCounty Administrator Jamie Wolgemuth
Wanda Bechtold put together a write-in campaign after a Commonwealth Court judge determined she didn’t collect enough signatures to get on the ballot.
“What the voter intent was. Typically, that’s pretty obvious with the spelling of the names. Sometimes if it’s just a last name, or some misspelling of the last name, it’s sometimes a challenge to make a determination, but the board does that by consensus.”
Wolgemuth says candidates who make their write-in campaigns known can also help out the board by offering potential misspellings of their name and any nicknames.
Overseas military ballots can still arrive at the County Board of Elections up until May 27th.
Wolgemuth says certification of the results should come shortly after that.
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