LAWRENCE COUNTY Judge gives candidate 10 days to file for vote

He said he will expedite the matter in court.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Susan Bongivengo plans to file papers next week asking for a special election in the county treasurer's race.
Judge Ralph Pratt of common pleas court gave Bongivengo 10 days to file papers for the request. She must also gather 20 signatures.
Pratt stated in his court order that he would expedite the hearing on the matter.
Bongivengo had sought the Democratic nomination and ran a write-in campaign for the Republican nomination for county treasurer in the spring election.
She lost both to incumbent Gary Felasco, but Bongivengo questioned those results after learning about a glitch on election night.
She testified Tuesday in common pleas court that far more friends and family in her home precinct claimed they wrote her in as the Republican candidate on election day than the two tallied by election officials.
Bongivengo paid to have that ballot box recounted by hand and she ended up with 33 more votes. She also had three other ballot boxes opened and gained six more votes. Those changes narrowed Felasco's lead to 16 votes on the Republican ticket.
Because of those errors, Bongivengo decided to pursue a special election.
Opponent's stance
Felasco's attorney, Ed Leymarie, had asked the judge to deny Bongivengo's request because she missed a 20-day window after the election.
Bongivengo said she only learned of the discrepancy June 22 when the first ballot box was recounted. She said the elections director explained the error could have occurred when 29 ballot boxes were taken away from workers counting write-in votes because of a machine error. Those ballots were run through the machines a second time to correct that problem.
Bongivengo said she could not afford the nearly $16,000 cost to have all 29 boxes recounted and has decided to seek a special election.