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Cook appears to have insurmountable lead in 49th District race

3 min read
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Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter

Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter

Members of the elections board look over provisional ballots being contested Thursday.

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Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter

From left, Russell Giancola, attorney for state Rep. Bud Cook, Scott Fergus, Washington County director of administration, and Joseph Dalfonso, attorney for Steve Toprani, view three ballots that were determined not to have been placed within their secrecy envelopes.

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Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter

Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter

Joseph R. Dalfonso, left, attorney for Steve Toprani, and Russell Giancola, attorney for state Rep. Bud Cook, discuss provisional ballots with the elections board in Washington County.

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Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter

Melanie Ostrander, assistant director of elections for Washington County, partially opens a provisional ballot to show members of the elections board and representatives for state Rep. Bud Cook and Democratic challenger Steve Toprani that a contested ballot was correctly placed inside the secrecy envelope after it was discovered three ballots out of eight approved by the board to be counted were not placed within secrecy envelopes.

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Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter

Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter

Melanie Ostrander, assistant director of elections for Washington County, partially opens a provisional ballot to show members of the elections board and representatives for state Rep. Bud Cook and Democratic challenger Steve Toprani that a contested ballot was incorrectly placed inside a provisional ballot envelope.

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Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter

Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter

Melanie Ostrander, assistant director of elections for Washington County, runs provisional ballots that were approved by the elections board to be counted.

Running under the slogan, “Rehire Bud Cook,” the incumbent Republican state representative appears to have a job for the next two years.

Nine days after the Nov. 6 election, eight provisional ballots tabulated Thursday increased Cook’s lead over Democratic challenger Steve Toprani to 15.

The Washington County Elections Board, meeting Thursday morning, ruled 11 provisional ballots on which challenges had been withdrawn should be counted. Another eight that Cook had challenged are not to be counted, pending a possible appeal to Washington County Court.

“I believe the law favors voter enfranchisement rather than disenfranchisement,” Toprani’s attorney, Joseph Dalfonso, told the board.

Melanie Ostrander, Washington County assistant elections director, tabulated eight of the 11 ballots and the outcome was Cook, 5, and Toprani, 2. The eighth ballot was completely blank. Attorneys for the candidates monitored the tabulation.

But she discovered three of the ballots among this group of 11 had not been placed in secrecy envelopes when they were cast at the polls.

The Washington County commissioners, who comprise the election board in years when they are not on the ballot, reconvened less than an hour later to make a decision on the trio of ballots lacking proper envelopes.

They decided the ballots were “fatally flawed” because they did not comply with election law regarding ballot secrecy.

Attorneys Russell Giancola, representing Cook, and Dalfonso agreed.

That brought Cook’s total in both Washington and Fayette counties to 9,942 to Toprani’s 9,927.

Cook has until Monday to appeal to court the status of seven provisional ballots that the election board said should be tabulated.

There had been eight provisionals in this second group, but one was found to also be lacking a secrecy envelope, so based on the board’s previous decision, it was also found to be fatally flawed.

Cook’s lawyer objected to these ballots on grounds including voters casting a provisional ballot outside of the proper precinct even when he or she is registered within the 49th District; choosing to vote via paper provisional ballot due to distrust in a voting machine; and a signature that appeared to be a “squiggle.”

Giancola said he would have to confer with Cook on how, or if, to proceed with an appeal.

Neither candidate attended the election board meeting.

Trailing by 15, Toprani, a Monongahela resident who is a former Washington County district attorney, would not be able to overtake Cook regardless of the outcome of a court decision on the remaining seven provisional ballots.

Dalfonso noted the canvass board is continuing to do its job in reviewing and recording election results for the entire county, and any challenge of official results comes after the commissioners sign off on them.

Decisions Thursday by election board Chairman Larry Maggi, Diana Irey Vaughan and Harlan Shober were unanimous.

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