Election Results

Well, even though detailed election results are not available yet (the write-in votes are not specific as to what name may have been written in), the LebCo website posted enough results data to make interesting observations and comments.

First, the Mt. Gretna position that received the most votes was for the Inspector of Election--with a total of 71 votes cast between two candidates. From this, we can assume that at least 71 MG voters turned out on Tuesday.

Second, two MGBoro positions were essentially totally ignored by even those 71 voters who did show up on Tuesday. The Assessor's position received one vote only--and that was for a write-in. Congrats to that person...And, the MG Boro Tax Collector position received only 6 votes--again, all cast for a write-in. The question now is, "How will those offices be filled?"

It is possible that there is a "majority" within the write-in, so would that person be "elected?" Or will the boro council "appoint" two persons to these two offices? If the incumbents for both positions did not run as candidates during this election, and if almost all of MG voters rejected the opportunity to cast their votes for the incumbents as a write-in, wouldn't that be a clear message to the council that the incumbents do not want the position anymore AND that the MG voters don't want the incumbents anymore? So, it will be interesting to see who the council appoints...

Third, if only 71 voters turned out on Tuesday, and more than a third of those votes were cast for write-ins, is that a sign of anything? I mean, I assume that a voter is not allowed to cast the same name as a write-in three times on the same ballot. So, that would mean that one voter's repetition of the same name would only count once, and that there were 25 distinct votes cast for someone other than a council incumbent. Or, to look at it another way, even if each voter could write-in "no confidence" in all three of their slots for boro council and the vote counters counted all three as three separate write-in votes, that means at least 9 people had the courage to cast a write-in vote.

Since it should be fairly obvious that I didn't vote 9 times (or 25 times) on Tuesday, I find comfort in knowing that there are at least 8 (and maybe 25) others out there with this kind of courage. That said, I hope the numbers provide our local elected officials with the motivation to also use their votes and decision-making powers with thoughtfulness and courage to "buck the trend." After-all, it is apparent now that there are allies out there that they can rely on when it comes to considering certain issues.

See the results at
http://www.lebcounty.org/lebanon/lib/lebanon/UnofficialFinalResults110309_0951p.HTM