Heaberg, Duffy, and their Lawyers Meet to Count Votes

The Tredyffrin Township Board of Supervisors meets tonight but the apparent winner of last week's special election for the at-large seat can't take her seat unless the vote is certified.

Six days after the unofficial vote count gave Democrat challenger Molly Duffy a 40-vote victory over incumbent Republican Mike Heaberg, the outcome is the focus of intense scrutiny. Heaberg was appointed to the seat in February, pending the May 17 special election. The special election is fill the unexpired term of Warren Kampf who was elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly last November.

Heaberg is scheduled to take his seat tonight as a member of the Tredyffrin Township Board of Supervisors. That's because the election results have not yet been certified. Just after 10 a.m. Monday, a Township clerk confirmed that Heaberg would be seated tonight, pending vote certification. It normally takes about 30 days to certify elections results in Chester County.

But as of 11:15 a.m., a clerk at the Chester County Voter Services office in West Chester confirmed that the two candidates for the at-large seat were on hand as the ballots from Tredyffrin were being counted in Suite 107 of the County Services Building.

Land use and township planing, including the future of Septa's proposed Paoli Transportation Center are on the agenda for tonight's meeting. The transportation center proposal had been a focal point of the Duffy campaign. Who is in the seat when the gavel falls to open the meeting tonight could be significant in the board's discussions.

In the aftermath of the preliminary vote count last Wednesday, Heaberg indicated that there might have been some problems with the scanning of paper ballots and that the results could show a margin as low as eight votes. Heaberg did not elaborate further last Wednesday.

By the weekend however it seemed both candidates, while not declaring victory or defeat, were preparing for a transition to a new Supervisor at Large. Heaberg responded to an email inquiry from Patch on Saturday by saying  "neither campaign has, to my knowledge, requested a recount from the County. Once the County certifies the election, I will—of course—follow the Township's rules on filling the vacancy as they relate to the special election."

Duffy posted a message to campaign supporters on her official website Friday thanking them for their support and thanking all who went to the polls despite damp and dreary conditions for most of the day. 

In the closest public statement she has made to a declaration of victory, Duffy says "I’m looking forward to serving all township residents. Thank You' does not adequately express my gratitude to my supporters," Duffy's website statement reads. "When I think about how much work it can be to get just one voter to the poll, I realize how amazing it is that 2266 voters came to the polls for me. Without you, that would not have happened."

The Normal Vote Counting Procedure

In the sprawling Chester County Services Building on Westtown Road in West Chester, all the ballots from every race in every precinct in every corner of Chester County are counted. Voter Services Executive Director James Forsythe said that's the way it is with every election, every time voters cast a ballot.

Forsythe sat down with Patch Friday afternoon as the ballot accounting process was getting underway for all 266 county precincts, not just Tredyffrin. He explained that the number of ballots is cross-checked with the number of voters who came to the polls to vote. That is the first step in the verification process. If those two numbers don't match, then all the paper ballots are run through scanners again to make sure the number of ballots counted is the same as the number of voters recorded at each polling place.

Making the process more cumbersome is the fact that the county uses both paper and electronic ballots for voting.

If there is still a discrepancy then all the ballots are checked by hand. All ballots with write-in candidates are also checked by hand. Preliminary results in the special election indicated less than five write in votes in the Tredyffrin Board of Supervisors special election.

Could Absentee Ballots Make a Difference in the Outcome? 

Chester County requires absentee ballots to be received by 5p.m. the Friday before an election. Voter Services Director Forsythe did not know of any that had been sent out to eligible voters in the Tredyffrin Board of Supervisors precincts.

Under normal circumstances Forsythe says it takes about three weeks to count all the ballots and a total of 30 days to get the votes counted and certified  by a three-judge panel.

With candidates, official vote counters and lawyers on the job today it remains to be seen if that process will be expedited in this special election.

As if the special election wasn't confusing enough for voters, Heaberg and Duffy are expected to face off again when the same seat comes up on the ballot for a new, full term in November.

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that absentee ballots are not sent out until election day. The story should have indicated that absentee ballots are not counted until election day.