1K Votes Tossed In Bucks County Could Impact House Control

DOYLESTOWN, PA —About 1,200 ballots were rejected by the Bucks County Board of Elections Tuesday, a possible blow to the results of the 142nd Legislative District race that could decide control of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

One week after the Nov. 8 general election, the board met for nearly two hours to review ballots that were set aside and provisional ballots, moving through numerous categories and issues to decide whether a vote should be counted or rejected.

Of the ballots set aside that were reviewed by Deputy Solicitor Amy Fitzpatrick, who presented her recommendations to the three-member board, 21 ballots that came from the Crestview Center in Langhorne that were delivered by a designated agent will be counted.

The nursing home falls within the 142 Legislative District, where there has been a back-and-forth race between Republican Joseph Hogan and Democrat Mark Moffa goes down to the wire.

"These are facilities where people need 24-hour care. They need assistance. They can't get out on their own. They have to find someone they can trust," Chairman Robert J. Harvie Jr. said. "I have a hard time disenfranchising them."

A Moffa victory would give the Democrats majority control of the House at 102 members.

The race is one of two races —the other in nearby Montgomery County —in which the balance of power in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives could change.

Of the ballots that were set aside:

• 79 segregated ballots were rejected for being unsigned or having no signature and date.
• 215 were rejected for not being dated.
• 153 that were incorrect.
• 492 "naked ballots" that were missing the secrecy envelopes.
• 59 that had an "identifying mark" such as a signature across the secrecy envelope.
• 25-30 miscellaneous ballots that had issues from being from counties other than Bucks to having nothing in the secrecy envelopes.

About 200 provisional ballots out of the 1,500 reviewed by Board of Elections Director Tom Freitag were rejected by the board.

Besides the 1,300 provisional ballots that will be counted, there were also another 700 of the ballots Fitzpatrick reviewed that also will be counted.

The Board of Elections —who are the Bucks County Commissioners —will meet again at 10 a.m. Thursday to review another 1,600 provisional ballots.

The ballot reviews for deciding whether votes should count or not may be key in the 142nd Legislative race.

The board heard statements from representatives for Hogan and Moffa as to why votes should be counted or rejected. Both parties shared their lists with Fitzpatrick as well.

Hogan —who was trailing by two votes at the last update Thursday—has now taken the lead over Moffa by 114 votes after the Board of Elections updated its tallies Monday.

As of Monday afternoon, Hogan had 15,353 votes —or 5008 percent —while Moffa had garnered 15,239 votes —or 49.71 percent —in unofficial results, the Bucks County Board of Elections reported.

The 142nd Legislative District consists of Penndel, Middletown Township, Langhorne, Langhorne Manor, Lower Southampton Township and parts of Northampton Township.

The board took public comment from about 15 Bucks County residents who urged them to count every vote and not reject due to technical issues or human error.