Supplemental ballot in Democratic U.S. Senate race draws attention of McGinty campaign
From left, Dakota Marker of Wheeling helps bundle paper ballots with Richard Colton of Pittsburgh. Democratic voters will have to use paper ballots today for the U.S. Senate race in Washington County.
Barbara Miller/Observer-Reporter Jason Henry, Western Pennsylvania director for Katie McGinty’s U.S. Senate campaign, and McGinty volunteers Laurie Van Hall and Jenna Kruse, leave the office of Washington County Elections Director Larry Spahr after a meeting Monday morning.
Washington County switched from paper ballots to a punch-card system in 1981, so for the first time in 35 years, Washington County’s Democratic voters who show up at the polls today will fill out paper ballots in one race, for the nomination and the right to run against Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey in November.
The makeup of the Democratic U.S. Senate race was in flux until last Tuesday, when the state Supreme Court overturned a Commonwealth Court decision and reinstated Joseph Vodvarka of Allegheny County to the Democratic ballot where former congressman Joe Sestak, former state environmental secretary Katie McGinty and Braddock Mayor John Fetterman are listed.
The decision came too late for Washington County to reprogram and test the 750 voting machines that were being delivered to polling places on Friday and over the weekend, so the elections office instituted a paper ballot for only Democrats and only in the U.S. Senate race.
In light of the special circumstances in Washington County, McGinty’s campaign mobilized, setting up a website notifying local voters about the supplemental paper ballot and urging voters not to skip this step. It also started a “Washington County Voter Protection Hotline.”
A members of McGinty’s campaign team and two volunteers met Monday morning with officials at the Washington County elections office to discuss the procedures here.
“Washington County is the only county that’s doing a paper ballot,” said Sabrina Singh, communications director for McGinty’s U.S. Senate campaign.
Singh said McGinty’s campaign has three concerns about Washington County’s U.S. Senate race on the Democratic ballot – first, that people won’t be aware of the supplemental paper ballot; second, that voters who are in a rush won’t have time to fill out the paper ballot; and third, that the voting machines have no table or space on which to place a paper ballot when filling one out.
The McGinty campaign also has other concerns, such as, “Are there pens available? Do we have enough ballots?” Singh said.
The Washington County elections office asked William Penn Printing Co. for 46,746 supplemental paper ballots based on 70 percent of registered Democrats for each of 176 precincts. “They gave me more than that,” said Wes Parry, assistant director of elections. “We wanted to make sure we absolutely had enough of those.”
Some counties, like Greene, never removed Vodvarka from their electronic voting system’s database.
Six others, Singh said, that did not include Vodvarka’s name in a list of candidates notified voters that they would have to write in Vodvarka’s name if they wanted to cast a vote for him.
In Washington County, 1,906 applications for absentee ballots were issued, up from 1,000 in the 2012 presidential primary but down from 2,093 requests in 2008.
It’s not unusual for turnout to hover around 70 percent for a presidential election in November, but Parry, experiencing his first presidential year inside the elections office, was unsure about how many voters to expect at the polls for today’s nomination process.
This year, as of Thursday, 650 Democrats and 501 Republicans sent absentee ballots back to the Washington County elections office. Thirteen independents and members of minor parties returned ballots.
Greene County Office of Elections Director Tina Kiger said she’s anticipating a greater voter turnout, which is typical for a presidential election. She said she’s advising election judges from each precinct to be prepared for a greater volume of voters.
“I believe that we will have a heavier turnout, how much more I couldn’t say.”
On the touch-screen, Democratic voters will see the names of former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, but also Roque Rocky De La Fuente of San Diego, Calif. On the Republican side, candidates listed will be former Florida governor Jeb Bush, neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and New York City businessman Donald J. Trump. Bush, Carson and Rubio have suspended their campaigns, but they did not withdraw from the Pennsylvania ballot.
Polls open at 7 a.m. today and close at 8 p.m. Along with Pennsylvania, primaries are being held in four other states, Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut and Maryland.
Delegate candidates for the Democratic National Convention will list the nominee they’ll be supporting on the first ballot, but Republican delegate candidates do not include this identifier. The Observer-Reporter ran a list of GOP delegate hopefuls and whom they plan to support, based on phone calls to the prospective delegates and a GOP website for the 9th and 18th Congressional Districts.
No candidates filed for Congress in these districts on the Democratic ticket. On the GOP ballot, U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy of Upper St. Clair, Allegheny County, is running unopposed, but incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster of Everett, Bedford County, has an opponent in Art Halvorson of Mann’s Choice, Bedford County.
There are races on each ballot to succeed state Attorney General Kathleen Kane. On the Democratic ballot, voters will nominate John Morganelli of Bethlehem, Lehigh County; Josh Shapiro of Abington Township, Montgomery County; or Stephen Zappala of Fox Chapel, Allegheny County. On the Republican ballot, voters will choose Joe Peters of Overfield Township, Wyoming County, or John Rafferty of Lower Providence Township, Montgomery County.
In races for the state Legislature, much attention has been focused on the Mon Valley. In the 49th District, Democrats hoping to succeed state Rep. Peter J. Daley are Alan Benyak of Carroll Township, Brendan Garay of California, Bob Kepics of Monongahela, Mark Alterici of Charleroi, Donn R. Henderson of Fallowfield Township and Randy J. Barli of Coal Center. Republican candidates are Bud Cook of West Pike Run Township and Melanie S. Patterson of Washington Township, Fayette County.
In the greater Monessen area of Westmoreland County, Democratic voters in the 58th District will be choosing between Charles “Chuck” Mrlack of Monessen and Mary Popovich of West Newton Mayor. Justin Walsh of Rostraver Township is unopposed on the Republic ticket.
In District 15, two Democrats are vying for the chance to run against incumbent Republican Jim Christiana of Beaver, Beaver County, in the fall. Both from Beaver County, they are Michael Rossi of Center Township and Dennis Nichols of Brighton Township.
In the 46th District, which includes parts of Washington and Allegheny counties, Jesse White of Cecil Township is running against Joe Szpara of Collier Township, Allegheny County, on the Democratic side. Incumbent Republican state Rep. Jason Ortitay of South Fayette Township is running unopposed.
Members of the two major political parties, plus independents and minor-party members, will be able to weigh in on whether the state Constitution should be changed to abolish Philadelphia Traffic Court.
Another ballot measure has been more controversial.
Washington County voters will see at polling places a posted notice, “As a result of action by the General Assembly, Constitutional amendment ballot question 1 (pertaining to he mandatory retirement age of justices and judges) has been removed from the primary ballot. … Any votes cast on ballot question 1 in the primary will not be counted.” This question will appear on the general election ballot Nov. 8.
From Greene County, Staff writer Katie Anderson contributed to this story.