DELAWARE COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY
P.O. BOX 473 MEDIA, PA 19063
610-566-6427(voice) 610-566-6447(fax) DelcoDems@aol.com(e-mail)
Clifford E. Wilson, Chairman
DEMOCRATIC COUNTY CHAIR BLASTS COURT DECISION
THAT ALLOWS 98 VOTES TO DEFEAT 277
“This isn’t Florida,” Democratic Chairman Cliff Wilson said in response to a Delaware County Common Pleas Court decision declaring that a Republican endorsed candidate who received 98 votes for school director in Region 6 of the William Penn School District had defeated 277 write-in votes cast for Charlotte Hummel the incumbent and Democratic Party-endorsed candidate.
“On May 17th, 277 Democratic voters in the six precincts of Lansdowne Borough that constitute the 6th Region of William Penn School District cast write-in votes for Charlotte Hummel, the incumbent school director. Ms. Hummel had previously been knocked off the primary ballot by Republicans, who took advantage of an arcane ruling as to which office a paper had to be filed in. The 277 write-in votes far exceeded the 98 votes that Republican Len Wert received (Wert’s name was on the voting machine)."
“First there were new rules as to how to count write-ins in, an obvious attempt to deny Hummel those votes cast by impressions from rubber stamps; then there was deliberate confusion as to totals; and when Ms Hummel, in time-honored practice and tradition in the Commonwealth and this County, went to court to ask that the votes cast for Charlotte Hummel and those cast for Charlotte K Hummel be added together (she had more votes than Wert even without any of the rubber stamp votes) the county solicitor objected and argued that the Court had no right to add Ms Hummel’s votes together - even though the Judge had just done the same thing for at least two other write-in candidates; and judges in Delaware County and across Pennsylvania have been doing so for years.”
“Then we have delaying tactics which result in a decision handed down on September 7th when the counting at the election warehouse ended May 23rd.”
“As a political party whose nomination has been stolen and on behalf of 277 Democratic voters I protest this outrage and have so informed the Board of Elections.” Ms Hummel will appeal the Court's decision to the Commonwealth Court, and Wilson announced that the Democratic Party would file an amicus brief in support of the right of voters to have their votes counted. “It’s Florida 2000 all over again - it’s Democrats demanding that every vote be counted and Republicans trying to win after the polls close what they couldn’t win when the polls were open.” To add to the outrage, according to Wilson, the county solicitor who has led this fight in Court, John McBlain, is a county taxpayer-paid employee in a court room favoring one party over the other. “Perhaps Mr McBlain should consider whether it is proper for the chairman of the Aldan Republicans (a part of the William Penn School District) to be initiating and handling these motions. Wilson also raised the question of the propriety of any involvement by the counsel to the Board of Elections, Frank Catania, who is also Solicitor of the William Penn School District. “One is almost tempted to believe that two Republicans with a vested interest in seeing Ms. Hummel off the William Penn School Board have manipulated and distorted the election law to accomplish what 98 voters couldn’t.”
Wilson contends that this is the latest and most egregious example of the arrogance that the Republican solicitors have displayed this year. Wilson noted that in earlier actions the Solicitors had rejected the choice by 7 Springfield write-in voters of an election inspector candidate because the write-in paper was taken out of the voting machine incorrectly by the local election official. In other cases practices were changed as to what papers you have to file after winning a write-in to fit the needs of favored Republican candidates and rules were being created to hamper attempts to monitor vote re-canvasses. “I’ve even been informed that our party cannot appoint a husband and wife team to monitor a recount - and this ridiculous rule comes form the party of “family values”. “Information that was always provided us as to withdrawals and resignations and special elections in a timely fashion are now disseminated at the last possible date to reduce the amount of time the opposition party has to nominate a candidate.
“I believe in an old maxim in politics that if you can’t beat them you deserve to lose. But I also believe that if you win you deserve to hold office - and that every American voter has the right, and in Pennsylvania that right is secured in our state constitution, to have that vote counted.”
“We Democrats will not permit the corruption of election procedures in this county. We will fight every tactic they come up with, in the courts and at the polls. We will demand that the state election bureau take action and we will call upon all elected officials to pledge to the voters that they will support the right of every vote to be counted and the intent of the electorate honored”.