Jun 3, 2016 4 min read

Art Halvorson’s campaign against Congressman Bill Shuster might not be finished after all.

The self-proclaimed “conservative, Tea Party-backed, Christian” candidate is now contemplating running as a Democrat in the 9th Congressional District against the eight-term incumbent Republican in the November general election after apparently receiving the most write-in votes in the Democratic primary.

“I’m not going to kid you. We are seriously considering what to do,” Halvorson told the Observer-Reporter Friday. “We are taking our time and following due process to consider all that is included in running in a general election.”

By Halvorson’s count, his campaign received 1,088 write-in votes in the 9th Congressional District compared with 1,036 votes for Adam Sedlock of Chalk Hill, Fayette County, a registered Democrat who mounted the write-in campaign. The meandering 12-county district includes the Mon Valley and the eastern side of Greene and Washington counties.

Halvorson nearly defeated Shuster in the Republican primary in April, losing by just 1,227 votes.

Halvorson called the Democratic write-in vote totals an “interesting development” since he did not mount an official campaign for that party, but was adamant that it’s too early to determine whether he would actually accept any nomination.

Halvorson’s campaign petitioned elections boards in Fayette, Blair, Indiana, Cambria, Somerset and Franklin counties to consider alternative spellings for the write-in votes, and he said he’s received “100 percent of those misspellings or near-spellings” during the process. He’s still awaiting a June 15 hearing in Fayette County to see how the write-in votes in that county are decided, but there appear to be too few votes to make a difference in the final tally, he said.

He expects the state Department of State will ultimately contact him to ask if he wants his named to be placed on the Democratic ballot, although Halvorson said it’s too soon to determine whether he would accept that offer. He would have until mid-August to decide, although Halvorson was mum on whether he would actually accept the nomination.

“We’re in the process of deciding what to do if that offer comes,” Halvorson said. “We’re trying to approach this methodically and deliberately, and take all issues into consideration. I don’t want to be presumptuous.”

However, his campaign’s push to have the write-in misspellings counted, even going to court in some counties, would seem to indicate he’s leaning toward running in the general.

“I haven’t decided, but I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think I could defeat Shuster,” he said. “I’m doing it because I think the stakes are too high and that (Shuster) is hurting the country.”

Wanda Murren, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of State in Harrisburg, confirmed Friday that “the department has not yet notified anyone in the 9th Congressional Democratic race of their status. The vote counting is not finished yet,” she said, alluding to the Fayette County court proceeding known as a “cumulation hearing.”

Messages left for Sedlock at his psychology practice in Uniontown or through his “Write in Adam Sedlock for Congress” Facebook page were not immediately returned Friday.

Precincts in eastern Washington and Greene counties lie on the fringe of the district, and there didn’t appear to be much of a push for a Democratic write-in vote.

Locally, Washington County’s canvass board listed Democratic write-ins in the 9th Congressional District as “scattered,” meaning the number of votes was inconsequential. Wesley Parry, Washington County assistant elections director, combed through printouts of electronic voting machines to submit numbers to the Department of State Bureau of Elections and came up with nine write-in votes for Shuster, five for Halvorson and three for Sedlock.

Parry said in a primary, a write-in candidate must receive at least as many votes as the number of signatures that are required on nominating petitions to clear a hurdle for candidacy. Those who wanted their names to appear on the April 26 primary ballot as major-party candidates for Congress had to garner at least 1,000 valid signatures on petitions circulated within their party. Independent and third-party candidates need at least 1,000 signatures on nomination papers due in Harrisburg Aug. 1.

Should the person who ends up with most write-in votes decline the nomination, “it doesn’t automatically go to the second-place person,” Murren said. The political party would have the opportunity to choose a candidate.

Tina Kiger, Greene County elections director, said Halvorson had four write-in votes, including one in which his name was misspelled. Sedlock received no write-in votes in Greene County, Kiger said.