Elections 2023: Stump Odd Man Out In Yardley Ballot Snafu

YARDLEY, PA —Jared Stump finished fourth in a three-candidate primary election race Tuesday.

But the 30-year-old borough resident is taking it in stride. In fact, he knew it was going to happen.

Due to a ballot error, residents could only vote for three candidates instead of four, two-year terms in Tuesday's primary election.

On the Democratic ticket were Yardley Borough Council President Caroline Thompson, councilmen Uri Feiner and Don Carlson, and Stump, a newcomer.

Stump was announced recently on the seven-member Democratic party council slate where all seven council seats were up for vote at the same time for the first time in the borough's history.

"I'm sitting there saying, 'It's going to be me,'" said Stump, who started his borough service recently with his appointment to the Human Relations Committee. "Uri has served three terms on council, there's Caroline and Don Carlson already serves on the council."

Despite those odds, Stump believes he fared pretty well on Tuesday.

"I was 20-25 votes away from the next person," Stump told Patch. "Wow, there were quite a few people where I was like one of the three candidates there picked."

Stump finished with 179 votes, according to unofficial results from the Bucks County Board of Elections.

Thompson received 268 votes followed by Feiner with 222 votes and Carlson, who garnered 197 votes.

Voters were supposed to be able to choose all four candidates. But the ballot stated that only three candidates can be chosen

"Jared did not lose," Thompson told Patch. "The ballot incorrectly listed the allotted number of council seats per term. The correct allotment allows for four 2-year candidates to move forward. We are confident that the issue will be remedied by the General Election and all qualified four-year and two-year candidates (in total a possible seven candidates from each party) will be presented as options for voters at that time."

Candidates needed at least the required 10 votes to be eligible for the November election.

Stump, who has lived in the borough for almost seven years, said he isn't worried.

"It's a simple administrative issue," said Stump, who volunteered to work at the polls on Tuesday. "They had already printed the ballots. This is a small municipal election so they weren't going to print them again. It was best to leave it as is and avoid confusing voters."