Chester County finishes vote count

No change to major contests; Kichline demands recount

WEST CHESTER » The results from Chester County’s general election on Nov. 2 were deemed complete on Wednesday after a series of delays, disruptions and discrepancies, with the outcome essentially unchanged from initial reports in the races for county offices, Common

Pleas and district courts, and area school boards and local offices.

Results showed that the four Democrats running for county row offices — Margaret Reif for controller, Yolanda van de Krol for clerk of courts, Sophia Garcia-Jackson for coroner, and Patricia Maisano for treasurer, increased their margins of victory over their Republican opponents, all of whom were making their first run for political office.

As the last of the mail-in ballots were tallied that had been the subject of consternation and some confusion as the count was put on hold last week and various problems with the county’s vote computation began, the four Democrats picked up an additional 1,675 or so votes, compared with about 450 by the GOP quartet.

The vote count and its woes have raised concerns among Republican officials, however, with the GOP chairman, Dr. Gordon Eck, on Tuesday demanding a “full forensic audit” of the results, and the sole Republican commissioner, Michelle Kichline, on Wednesday calling on her Democratic colleagues to order a full recount of all votes and a subsequent review of county voting procedures.

Both Republicans, however, acknowledge that any steps taken would not likely upend the results, which are extremely favorable to county Democrats, at the same that other Democrats across the country saw defeats that some say presage woes for the party in 2022.

According to the results posted on the county Voter Services website, Reif, whose office

is among the most important in the county government as it represents its financial watchdog, won her race over Tredyffrin businesswoman Regina Mauro with 74,016 votes to 68,207 or 52 percent to 48 percent.

Likewise, van de Krol, with 74,812 votes to New London attorney Carmela Ciliberti’s 67,387, or 52 percent to 48 percent won her race. Garcia-Jackson, the current chief deputy coroner, garnered 74,809 votes to GOP Dr. Frank Speidel’s 67,262; and Maisano won her contest against Valley tax enrollment agency owner Jeanna Nicolas by 73,846 votes to 68,607 votes or 52 percent to 48 percent.

Reif, van de Krol and Maisano are all incumbents, having been elected in 2017 in part of a “blue wave” by county Democrats.

Meanwhile, in the other countywide contest for two seats on the Common Pleas Court bench, West Chester family attorney Alita Rovito was leading all candidates with 74,139 votes, or 27 percent. Following her was fellow Democrat Anthony Verwey, of the West Chester firm of Gawthrop Greenwood, with 66,970 votes. Republicans Lou Mincarelli and P.J. Redmond, both criminal defense attorneys, tied with 23 percent, although Mincarelli received 63,595 votes to Redmond’s 63,484.

Other Democratic victories included wins in four Magisterial District Judge races — West Chester, Downingtown, East Goshen and Tredyffrin — a number of school board races in West Chester, Downingtown, UnionvilleChadds Ford, Great Valley and Owen J. Roberts, and number township and borough races.

One result of interest is the contest in the Downingtown School Board Region 2 race between Democrat incumbent Rebecca Britton and Republican challenger

Margie Miller. Results showed Miller winning the contest by one vote, 1,185 to 1,184. The vote is almost certain to be the subject of a recount.

Contacted on Wednesday, Democratic leader Charlotte Valyo had this to say:

“The counting of the inperson and mail-in-ballots has been completed. I want to congratulate all our Democratic candidates. You ran positive campaigns based on truth, facts, and our demonstrated ability to work effectively for the people of Chester County. We have successfully retained control of the county government, elected two Court of Common Pleas judges, and elected many local candidates, flipping some school boards, township boards, mayoral offices and Magisterial District Judge offices.”

“Now is the time to begin coming together to work on behalf of all Chester County residents,” Valyo declared. “While we wait for the election to be officially certified, I implore my counterpart at the Republican Committee to stop the political games and withdraw his request for an unnecessary and wasteful forensic audit.”

Eck declined to comment for this story.

The results were posted shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday, seven days and 17 hours after polls across the county closed at 8 p.m. Nov. 2. It was the longest span between polls closing and final totals in recent memory since the 10 days between the two the county saw in the 2020 Presidential Election.

“Chester County Voter Services has now uploaded election results that include all in-person, mail-in and absentee, provisional, and military/civilian overseas votes,” said county spokeswoman Becky Brain.

Brain said that throughout the week-long ballot counting process, Voter Services staff had worked alongside both the Democratic and Republican parties, as well as experts from

the county’s voting system vendor, ES&S. “Having identified a discrepancy during the counting of mail-in and absentee ballots late last week, the county identified and isolated the cause of the issue, and recounted the impacted ballots in order to ensure every legally-cast vote was counted,” she said.

She said the county brought this matter to the attention of both the Democratic and the Republican party election observers on Friday, and all agreed that over the weekend Voter Services staff would re-compute all mail-in and absentee ballot envelopes to ensure proper voter credit was applied.

Also, on Friday, Voter Services discovered additional mail-in ballots from a drop-box located at the Downingtown Library that had not been counted in the original tally on Election Day, the county stated in an email Tuesday. Again, both parties were alerted and provided information about the chain of custody that all ballots had remained secured since collection. These ballots were counted on Monday.

“Importantly, the County Voter Services Staff has been working alongside both the Democratic and Republican parties every step of the way in this election, the three commissioners — Kichline, Chairwoman Marian Moskowitz and Vice Chairman Josh Maxwell — said. “That will continue to be the case until we reach a verified final tally. Elections are fundamental to our democracy. The process has been challenging, but working together with both parties, we will ensure that every Chester County legally-cast vote has been counted.”

However, on Wednesday Kichline issued a call for the county not to stop with the certification of votes by the Board of Elections, but to do a full recount of results.

“Last week, I became aware of some irregularities in Chester County’s 2021 Municipal Election,” she said in an email to the media. “While both parties have been notified, these irregularities continue and must be fixed.

“Although the parties agree that these irregularities will not change the outcomes of most races, many questions remain about how these problems occurred,” she said. “These problems absolutely must be rectified. More importantly, the County must clearly identify and correct the failures of its election processes so that all our citizens may feel confident that their votes will be properly counted, recorded, and certified in future elections.”

Kichline did not allege that any votes had been miscounted but raised the red flag that some voters might feel disenfranchised over the process. She did not offer specifics, however.

In addition to a full recount, Kichline, who has served on the board since 2014, called for an audit of all “processes, procedures, training, and staffing relating to how our elections are run to ensure that these issues never arise again.

“Specifically, we must have answers about the chain of custody for every last vote cast in this election,” she said. “The voters of Chester County deserve

to know that their votes, whether sent by mail or cast in person, were properly handled and counted.”

It is unclear whether that effort would match the call by Eck for a “forensic” audit of ballots. The commissioners have not formally responded to Eck’s letter on Tuesday demanding the audit.

In an email Wednesday, Moskowitz said that Kichline’s suggestions would be considered.

“We are waiting for all the work to be done before making any decisions, which will be made together, on next steps,” she said.