Mar 16, 2018 5 min read

The canvass of results from Tuesday’s special election in the 18th Congressional District began Friday morning in a race in which, by a slim margin, Democrat Conor Lamb unofficially defeated Republican Rick Saccone.

Initial results showed Lamb with a 627-vote lead over Saccone, receiving 113,813 votes to Saccone’s 113,186, in a district covering parts of Greene, Washington, Westmoreland and Allegheny counties.

The tally of results available Friday afternoon for all four counties, which remain incomplete, show Lamb increasing his lead by 14 votes. As the results now stand, Lamb has a 641-vote lead with 113,936 votes to Saccone’s 113,295 votes.

Allegheny County reviewed absentee ballots from nearly half of the precincts in the county late Friday afternoon and planned to reconvene Monday to continue the canvass.

About 169 overseas, military or federal ballots also remain to be counted in the four counties. These ballots must be returned to county elections offices by 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Saccone still had not conceded the race as of Friday. Republican Party leaders hinted earlier they may challenge the results.

The canvass in Greene County was conducted in about two and half hours Friday morning at the Greene County Office Building.

The review revealed only minor changes. Lamb picked up two votes to give him a total of 2,022; while Saccone lost one vote, bringing his total to 2,800.

Changes in votes resulted from errors in the counting of absentee ballots at the polls, said Tina Kiger, elections office director. During the canvass Friday morning, each of the 202 absentee ballots were read aloud and tallied.

Greene County received no provisional ballots. One overseas, or military, ballot of the two issued by the county remains unaccounted for and must be received in the election’s office by 5 p.m. Tuesday.

In Washington County, the review of election results added 29 votes to Lamb’s total, which now stands at 22,752, and 36 votes to Saccone’s, giving him 26,198 votes.

The additional votes all came from provisional ballots, Elections Director Larry Spahr said. Provisional ballots are ballots issued at the polls that must be checked to ensure the voter is eligible to vote. Washington County received 109 provisional ballots and 65 were deemed by the canvass board to be valid, Spahr said.

Washington County also issued 24 overseas ballots, of which 15 have been returned, Spahr said. Those who voted by overseas ballot have until Tuesday to return them to the elections office.

The canvass board will wrap up the count Wednesday after overseas ballots are received and tallied, Spahr said.

In Allegheny County, the count of provisional ballots and an additional 114 absentee ballots that had not been scanned election night added 77 votes to Lamb’s total and 61 to Saccone’s. This left Lamb with 58,732 votes and Saccone 43,350.

The county was reviewing scanned absentee ballots Friday afternoon. It has issued 99 overseas or military ballots that must be received by Tuesday and included in the vote total.

In Westmoreland County, the review of election results gave Lamb an additional 15 votes and Saccone an additional 13 votes, pushing Lamb’s total to 30,430 and Saccone’s to 40,947.

The county has 45 ballots that remain to be counted, which include overseas and military ballots that must be received by Tuesday.

Spahr said the count went well in his county. A representative from each campaign was on hand.

“There were no major objections,” he said. “They may have challenged a vote here or there, but there was nothing major.”

Representatives from each of the campaigns and several supporters also attended the Greene County canvass.

Following the count, Bill Pentecost, an attorney representing the Saccone campaign, said he believed the canvass was conducted very professionally.

“It seems like it ran smoothly and it appears to be accurate,” he said, noting he spoke only for the Greene County canvass.

Attorney Glenn Toothman with the Lamb campaign agreed, saying the process went well.

“Overall, the numbers matched,” he said.

Kiger, too, said the canvass went well and any apparent discrepancies, which were all resolved in the process, were fairly normal.

One issue involved a discrepancy between total votes cast and the number of votes received by all three candidates. The tally of machine and absentee votes indicated 4,896 people had cast ballots but candidates received a total of only 4,865 votes, leaving 31 votes not accounted for.

It was explained, however, that three people cast write-in votes that didn’t count and 28 people had voted on the machines but chosen no candidate.

That someone would cast a ballot without choosing a candidate is not unusual, Kiger said.

“If they don’t know enough about the candidates or they don’t care for them, they’re not going to vote,” she said. “They want to voice their opinion, and (by not picking a candidate) they are voicing their opinion,” she said.

She also noted some people will vote in an election they may not have interest in only to maintain their good voting record.

Three write-in votes were not counted in Greene County. One was for Rick Saccone, although a write-in vote for a candidate who is listed on the ballot is not valid, Kiger said. The other two were for “none of the above” and “In Eris Name Thee I Curse,” a reference to the Greek goddess of chaos, strife and discord.

Editor’s note: The story has been updated to correct the number of additional absentee votes Lamb received in Greene County.