Court hearing over missing date ballots in 117th district race
WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — We are still waiting to hear who won the Republican nomination in the 117th State House District race. The final count still hangs in the balance.
The matter moved to Luzerne County Court regarding a petition filed over missing dates on mail-in ballots.
The process is moving along but there is no indication as to when we will know who won the election.
Challenger Jamie Walsh leads incumbent state representative Mike Cabell by just four votes, according to the latest unofficial results.
The Walsh campaign filed a petition, asking the county court to reject six mail-in ballots that did not have the full year printed on the outer return envelope. While “20” was prefilled on the line, voters had to mark the last two digits, “24” on their own.
“We argue that those ballots should not be included in the total because they lack a mandatory, completed date,” stated Attorney Greg Teufel who is representing candidate Jamie Walsh.
Judges Tina Polachek Gartley, Lesa Gelb, and Richard Hughes heard arguments from the Walsh campaign and the county’s office of law during a hearing Monday morning.
Nobody from the Cabell campaign was present.
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During the ballot adjudication process, the election board voted to accept 111 ballots without the full year printed on outer return envelopes, including the six ballots in the 117th district.
Board members considered guidance from the PA Department of State, which advised county election boards to accept ballots with the month and day filled in but without the “24” to complete the year.
Walsh’s attorney says the challenge is based on rulings from the state supreme court and a federal appeals court, which stated ballots must have an accurate date on the outer envelope to be counted.
“Now the court decides whether our objections were timely, and also whether in substance to agree with us and order that the votes lacking the year should not be counted or agrees with the county and decides to affirm the decision to count the votes despite the absence of a year in the date field,” explained Teufel.
No ruling was issued on Monday. If the court grants Walsh’s request, it would increase his lead by two votes.
We reached out to the Cabell campaign but have not heard back.
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