Nov 13, 2017 2 min read

The Washington County election office tabulation of absentee ballots, completed Monday, has produced unofficial results in some close races and broken one tie.

In Smith Township, where Democrat Anthony Gianfrancesco was tied with Republican Robert Cassidy at 434 votes, Cassidy picked up a single vote, according to Melanie Ostrander, assistant elections director.

In Canton Township, Tom Bodnovich, who had a four-vote deficit to Sam Bear in a supervisor’s race, made up the difference and won by three.

In the Ringgold School District at-large race, Larry Mauro, who currently holds a Region I seat on the board, appears to have finished third in a race where three were to be elected.

Jim Dodd and Sherrie Crawley Garry finished first and second, respectively with 3,280 and 2,567 votes. About 2,060 voters chose to type in a name, but the highest number of votes going to one write-in candidate was 900, fewer votes than William C. Stein Jr., the incumbent board president, who garnered 1,890.

Mauro also won a school board election in Ringgold Region I, which includes Donora and Carroll Township Precincts 1, 3 and 4, but he can hold only one seat when the board reorganizes next month.

“If Mauro declines the at-large seat, Stein would move up,” Ostrander said.

No candidate filed for Second Ward commissioner in East Bethlehem Township, where two men, John Keys and Richard Queen, each received five votes.

If the tie holds through the canvass board’s examination, the candidates would draw lots at the elections office to determine a winner.

The nine-member canvass board will likely complete its task next week, and the county commissioners can then certify the results.