Winner in 39th to be determined
The job of determining the winner of the state House 39th District seat will begin Tuesday morning in Washington County, according to Larry Spahr, county director of elections.
The canvass board will begin its audit of the 6,076 votes that were cast in the election that ended Tuesday night with both candidates, incumbent Republican Rick Saccone and Democrat David Levdansky, the former officeholder, claiming victory.
But, the race will remain undecided until Allegheny County reviews and tabulates its votes.
The 39th District takes in 13 precincts in the Mon Valley in Washington County, but most of the district is in Allegheny County.
Unofficial returns show that Saccone received 14,274 votes and Levdansky had 14,238, a difference of just 36 votes.
In Washington County alone, Saccone received 3,226 votes to Levdansky’s 2,850 in Washington County. In Washington County, there were 275 absentee ballots cast in the election with another 14 ballots from military or overseas residents and 24 provisional ballots that have not yet been counted, said Spahr.
Meanwhile, in Allegheny, Mark Wolosik, division manager, said its “return board” convened Friday and began its review of its vote totals, including 35 absentee ballots and “around 100 provisional ballots.”
The Allegheny County absentee ballots, however, have already been challenged based on a court order that extended the deadline for accepting them. A hearing on this matter will be held Friday, Wolosik said.
As for the provisional ballots, Wolosik said each one will have to be verified before it can be added to the candidates’ vote totals.