Judge finds Robinson election was fair
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Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Joseph James ordered a civics lesson for elections officials after a hearing yesterday into vote-counting irregularities in Robinson.
But he stopped short of banning anyone from future service and said that, despite the issues, he believed the local election on Nov. 3 was fair.
"Often we find that things that sound nefarious turn out to be a matter of error instead," he said.
Robinson Commissioner Jerry Brouker, who lost his re-election bid by a narrow margin, filed an appeal claiming that absentee ballots were counted before the polls closed in two precincts. He also claimed that certified poll watchers were barred from the ballot count in those two precincts and in one other.
Poll watchers David DiNardo and Linda Jakubec testified yesterday that in their precincts, constables kept them out of the polling place when the polls closed at 8 p.m.
A third poll watcher, Michael Malinsky, said he was initially barred from the room, but was eventually allowed to watch the process from a distance.
Ms. Jakubec testified that in her precinct an elections official emerged a few minutes after 8 and announced the results of the absentee ballot count. Mr. DiNardo said he was told to "call Downtown" if he wanted results and said workers were gone from the building by 8:10.
Judge James called it "somewhat shocking" that elections officials would claim to have the count complete so quickly, given the number of races on the ballot. Other witnesses testified that the count took nearly two hours in other precincts.
By law, absentee ballots are not to be opened or counted until the polls close.
"It strains credulity to say that someone could have counted the ballot that quickly without peeking," Judge James said.
He also said that barring poll watchers was a violation that will have to be corrected.
"This shouldn't be an adversarial process, and I will have a meeting with the elections department and see that it is addressed," he said.
Mr. Brouker had initially sought to have the 80 absentee ballots cast in those three precincts thrown out. He finished fourth in a race for three seats -- 35 votes behind fellow Republican Jesse Forquer and 64 votes behind Democrat Ron Shiwarski.
He said he actually finished ahead of Mr. Shiwarski in the votes cast at the polls, but that a large and heavily Democratic absentee count pushed Mr. Shiwarski from fourth place up to second. He said it is the third time in the last five local elections that a Republican candidate has won at the polls then lost due to the absentee ballots.
Mr. Brouker said, "We want to put forth every effort to make sure elections are fair and free."
First Published December 3, 2009 12:00 am
