Provisional Ballots

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - About half of the 383 provisional ballots cast in the Nov. 2 election in Franklin County will not be counted, according to a county official. The unofficial count of the provisional ballots was completed Monday and 190 are considered legitimate, according to Deputy Chief Clerk Jean Byers. In most cases, the people who cast those ballots had gone to the wrong polling place and were given the green provisional ballots on request.

Hagerstown Councilman Martin E. Brubaker has essentially wrapped up a re-election win, based on absentee and provisional ballots counted so far. The Washington County Board of Elections on Wednesday tallied provisional ballots, which voters cast at the polls if there is a question about their registration status. At the end of Election Day, which was Nov. 6, Brubaker led Councilman William M. Breichner by 188 votes in the race for the fifth and final council seat. As of Wednesday, Brubaker's lead was 178 votes.

charlestown@herald-mail.com BOLIVAR, W.Va. - By a one-vote margin, Ed Hall became the new mayor of Bolivar Monday night after three provisional votes were accepted from last week's town election. Hall defeated Mayor Tim Collins with 115 votes compared to Collins' 114 votes. Collins was leading Hall by a 114-112 vote count in last Tuesday's election. But the election was too close to call because of four provisional ballots. Provisional ballots are ones recognized by pollworkers as possibly being illegal or having incorrect paperwork.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. -- With 200 votes separating him from Democrat Herb Snyder in the race for a 16th District state Senate seat, Republican Bob Adams said Wednesday the race is undecided given absentee and provisional ballots that could be counted in the race. Snyder said Wednesday night he doubts there would be enough absentee and provisional ballots to affect his lead over Adams and predicted new ballots would only change the vote outcome by about 24 votes. "I would say it's over," Snyder said of the race.

WASHINGTON COUNTY - More than 650 absentee ballots were counted from this year's primary election, but those votes had no effect on Tuesday's results. The Washington County Board of Elections on Thursday counted 668 absentee ballots. That is about half of the more than 1,200 absentee ballots that have been received, according to Dorothy Kaetzel, the county's election director. The deadline for the board to receive those ballots is Feb. 22, but they must have been postmarked by Feb. 12. The remainder of the ballots will be counted Feb. 22, and provisional ballots are expected to be counted Tuesday.

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- More than 650 absentee ballots were counted from this year's primary election, but those votes had no effect on Tuesday's results. The Washington County Board of Elections on Thursday counted 668 absentee ballots. That is about half of the 1,206 absentee ballots that have been received, according to Dorothy Kaetzel, the county's election director. The deadline for the board to receive those ballots is Feb. 22, but they must have been postmarked by Feb. 12. The remainder of the ballots will be counted Feb. 22, and provisional ballots are expected to be counted Tuesday.

charlestown@herald-mail.com HEDGESVILLE, W.Va. - Write-in candidate Charles Mason was declared the mayor of Hedgesville on Monday night following a canvass of the June 6 election results in which eight provisional ballots were allowed. Mason picked up five more votes from the canvass, giving him a total of 42 votes in his race against Dennis Donaldson, according to information from Terri Miskovsky, who won in a close race for town recorder. Donaldson received two more votes in the canvass, giving him a total of 40 votes, Miskovsky said.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - One city council seat in last week's Charles Town municipal election remained undecided after the canvassing of provisional ballots on Tuesday night appears to have resulted in a tie, Mayor Peggy Smith said. Four ballots still are in question, however. Ward IV candidates Lacie Mumaw and Michael Slover each received a total of 253 votes after review of 21 of the 25 provisional ballots, Smith said. "We have four votes that are being challenged. In fact, we're going to call the secretary of state and get a ruling on them," Smith said.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. -- Herb Snyder, a Democrat running to regain his 16th District seat in the West Virginia Senate, has picked up about 28 additional votes in Jefferson County following the canvassing of the county's election returns from the Nov. 4 general election, Jefferson County Commissioner Dale Manuel said Wednesday. Manuel said Snyder strengthened his lead in Jefferson County after 159 additional absentee and provisional ballots were blended into the election results. The canvassing was completed Wednesday at 5:40 p.m., Manuel said.

Despite a hard-charging challenge from his Republican opponent, Democrat John P. Donoghue apparently has retained his state delegate seat in Subdistrict 2C. Donoghue received 4,577 votes in Tuesday's election, while Republican Paul Muldowney had 3,651, according to complete but unofficial results from all 17 precincts. Donoghue's win means Washington County still will have at least one Democrat in the Maryland General Assembly. The margin might be too great for absentee and provisional ballots to change the result.

Hagerstown Councilman Martin E. Brubaker has essentially wrapped up a re-election win, based on absentee and provisional ballots counted so far. The Washington County Board of Elections on Wednesday tallied provisional ballots, which voters cast at the polls if there is a question about their registration status. At the end of Election Day, which was Nov. 6, Brubaker led Councilman William M. Breichner by 188 votes in the race for the fifth and final council seat. As of Wednesday, Brubaker's lead was 178 votes.

Political newcomer and local attorney Travis Poole said Wednesday he was a “little disappointed” that he didn't win a seat on the Washington County Board of Education, but he hasn't ruled out running again. The three incumbents and political newcomer Melissa Williams appeared to secure their positions as the top four vote-getters for the four school board seats that were up for grabs in Tuesday's general election. The board has seven members. Even with 3,340 absentee ballots issued and more than 1,000 provisional ballots to be canvassed, it is highly unlikely Poole will get enough votes to make up the difference, taking into account early voting and all 54 precincts.

There will be differing viewpoints of Hagerstown's proposed downtown multiuse sports and events center when the new city council is sworn in later this month. “The current proposal, I'm totally against it,” said Penny Nigh, who totaled the second-most votes, 6,477, with all precincts reporting Tuesday night plus early voting results. “I think that if anything should be done, it should be at the old location,” she said, referring to Municipal Stadium on East Memorial Boulevard.

Primary election results in Washington County are official. The Washington County Board of Elections certified the results Friday. Election Director Kaye Robucci said one additional vote was counted that day, after initially being included with ballots that were rejected. The board counted 712 absentee ballots Sept. 16, two days after the primary, and another 224 absentee and provisional ballots Sept. 22. The additional ballots didn't change the outcomes of any county, state or federal races.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- Republican state Senate candidate Bob Adams on Tuesday conceded defeat in his race against Democrat Herb Snyder after a review of election results in Berkeley County showed little change in the race results in that county. Adams picked up an additional 43 votes in vote canvassing and Snyder received another 40 votes in the race for the open 16th District state senate seat. An earlier vote canvass in Jefferson County resulted in about 28 more votes going to Snyder, officials said.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. -- Herb Snyder, a Democrat running to regain his 16th District seat in the West Virginia Senate, has picked up about 28 additional votes in Jefferson County following the canvassing of the county's election returns from the Nov. 4 general election, Jefferson County Commissioner Dale Manuel said Wednesday. Manuel said Snyder strengthened his lead in Jefferson County after 159 additional absentee and provisional ballots were blended into the election results. The canvassing was completed Wednesday at 5:40 p.m., Manuel said.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- The outcome of the tightly fought contest between Herb Snyder and Bob Adams for the 16th District seat in the West Virginia Senate apparently will not be finalized until at least Thursday. Convened for several hours Monday as canvassing boards of last week's votes, the Berkeley and Jefferson County commissions decided to recess until after Veterans Day to complete a tally of dozens of absentee and provisional ballots after manually checking a sampling of the unofficial results.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. -- With 200 votes separating him from Democrat Herb Snyder in the race for a 16th District state Senate seat, Republican Bob Adams said Wednesday the race is undecided given absentee and provisional ballots that could be counted in the race. Snyder said Wednesday night he doubts there would be enough absentee and provisional ballots to affect his lead over Adams and predicted new ballots would only change the vote outcome by about 24 votes. "I would say it's over," Snyder said of the race.

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- A rush of new voter registrations this year in Washington County did not appear to translate into a higher turnout percentage Tuesday, according to unofficial election results from the Washington County Elections Board. Although voter registrations in Washington County are up more than 10 percent from 2004, when the last presidential election was held, a lower percentage of registered voters cast ballots this year than in 2004, election results show. "I'm really surprised.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - In terms of raw numbers, Tuesday's election had the largest turnout ever in Franklin County, but it fell short as a percentage of registered voters, according to complete but unofficial results from the county Election Board. The 63,795 voters who cast ballots was a few thousand ahead of the 2004 total of 59,320. However, the percentage of turnout was 72 percent, the same as four years ago. Since that time, the county added more than 6,700 voters with 88,787 registered, according to county election figures.