Elections officials scramble to comply with court case restoring Democrat to U.S. Senate ballot
Washington County Elections Director Larry Spahr discusses problems the state Supreme Court created for counties with its last-minute reversal of a lower-court decision.
A paper ballot showing all four of the Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate
Editor’s note: This story has been modified from a previous version that incorrectly said that Democratic voters could write-in on touch-screen voting machines U.S. Senate candidate Joseph Vodvarka, whose name will not be listed.
In an unprecedented move to comply with a state Supreme Court order that places Joseph Vodvarka back on the Democratic ballot in the race for U.S. Senate, Washington County officials said Wednesday precinct-level election boards will be handing out printed papers on Election Day because there is not enough time to update and conduct accuracy testing on its 750 electronic machines.
Vodvarka, a retiree from the Pittsburgh area, regained a spot on the ballot with former Congressman Joe Sestak; former state environmental protection secretary Katie McGinty; and Braddock Mayor John Fetterman.
Sestak months ago challenged the validity of signatures on Vodvarka’s nominating petitions, and Commonwealth Court jettisoned Vodvarka’s name from the ballot. With just a week before the April 26 primary, the state Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s ruling.
Washington County will be providing Democrats with paper ballots for the U.S. Senate race only, and it is instructing voters not to cast a vote on the touch-screen machine in the federal Senate race, which will display the names of only Sestak, McGinty and Fetterman.
Wanda Murren, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees elections, said of the situation, “It’s late, it is very late,” and about 58 of the state’s 67 counties, including Greene and Allegheny, kept Vodvarka on their ballots pending the outcome of the court case.
“Nine counties we’re still checking into,” Murren said Wednesday afternoon. “Results will be delayed somewhat. We hope to have results available by the end of the night. Mr. Vodvarka’s numbers will not be part of that.”
The Washington County elections office does not plan to optically scan the Democratic U.S. Senate race paper ballots until Wednesday.
Larry Spahr, Washington County elections director, said that write-in votes for Vodvarka cast via touch-screen would not be counted. On Thursday, Wes Parry, assistant elections director, said no write-in or other votes cast by Democrats via touch-screen machine will be counted in the U.S. Senate race. Only votes cast on paper ballots used by Democratic voters in the U.S. Senate race will be counted. Democrats will be using the electronic touch-screens for all other races appearing on their ballots.
Military and overseas absentee ballots – the earliest sent out – contained Vodvarka’s name. Later versions did not include him because of the Commonwealth Court ruling striking him from the ballot, said Spahr, who was quite upset that the state Supreme Court waited to rule just one week before the primary.
“I was absolutely appalled at their lack of knowledge and their apparent unconcern,” Spahr said of the state Supreme Court’s ruling. “Due process, I understand, but give someone due process in a timely fashion. Put more judges on the court so you have more personnel.”
Washington County voters have never been given a supplemental ballot since Spahr began working in the elections office in 1981. Uncertainty about Ralph Nader’s status as a presidential candidate in 2004 led Spahr to prepare two ballots for the punch-card system then in use – one with Nader’s name and one without. His status as an independent candidate was confirmed by October for the November election.
One of the most important jobs of a county commission is to conduct a fair election, but “the courts hold back on these decisions and we’re expected to make it work,” said County Commissioner Larry Maggi, chairman of the Washington County Election Board. “It’s very frustrating.”
Logic and accuracy testing to include Vodvarka’s name on each of the 750 voting machines would take two to three weeks, said Wes Parry, Washington County assistant director of elections. Washington County began this testing March 28 and completed it April 15. Machines will be delivered to 176 polling places as early as Friday.
Precinct-level judges of election for whom the office had email addresses were notified of the late development in the U.S. Senate race. All judges of election will receive a fact sheet in their packet of materials labeled “Attention Judges.”
Voters in Greene County won’t have to worry about filling out additional paperwork when they vote in the Democratic primary’s Senate race.
Greene County Elections Director Tina Kiger said uncertainty about Vodvarka’s eligibility was so late in the process that they left his name on the electronic voting machine ballots. She said if his name had not been restored, they would have had paperwork at each machine informing voters he was no longer eligible.
“With all the appeals and the timing, it was just basically too late to do anything,” Kiger said.
But the absentee ballots, which must be delivered to the office by mail or in person by the close of business Friday, did have information informing voters that Vodvarka had been removed. She said it is now too late to rectify that situation with a new absentee ballot.
“There’s no way we can get new ballots out and we’ve been given no direction on what to do,” she said.
Vodvarka, a resident of the McKees Rock area in Allegheny County, is on the ballot in his home county, according to an elections bureau worker in Pittsburgh.
Greene County Editor Mike Jones contributed to this story.