GOP leads for control of Limerick supervisors board

Uncounted mail-in ballots could change results

LIMERICK » Unless there is a major influx of votes when Montgomery County’s mail-in ballots are finally counted, Republicans appear to have retained control of the township’s board of supervisors in this year’s municipal elections.

Incumbent Kara Shuler, the current board president, was the top vote-getter with 2,633 votes. Her running mate, Linda Erwin, was close behind with 2,500 votes.

The two Democratic candidates, Connie Lawson and Alexandria Sasek, were running far behind — 1,785 and 1,704 respectively — according to figures posted on the Montgomery County website at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The outcome could change as a result of a snafu at the county election offices regarding write-in votes, which are heavily favored by Democratic voters.

“Due to several factors, final results are expected to be delayed,” according to the county’s announcement made Wednesday afternoon.

“First, the county is sequestering the returned ballots related to the previously announced misprint of mailin ballots by its printer. Affected ballots are subject to a separate verification process that was approved by the Montgomery County Board of Elections and shared with both political parties as well as the Pennsylvania Department of State,” according to the post.

“Second, the county encountered a higher than usual number of ballots that cannot be read by the ballot scanners. The county is following an established process for bi-partisan teams to re-create the impacted ballots to make sure every eligible vote is validated and counted. This process occurs during every election as there are various reasons ballots are sometimes unable to be scanned. The county estimates that approximately 23,000 ballots are affected by these two issues.”