LAWRENCE COUNTY Candidate requests a recount

Only 16 votes separate the two candidates for treasurer.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Susan Bongivengo believes she has a simple solution to a very complex problem.
Bongivengo, a candidate for Lawrence County treasurer, has asked the county elections board to recount Republican write-in votes in just 26 boxes that she fears were miscounted.
Bongivengo and her attorney, John Bongivengo, who is her son, presented their idea to the county elections board Tuesday.
The board did not respond on advice of the county solicitor because Bongivengo has a pending court case on the matter.
Bongivengo filed papers Monday in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court asking a judge to declare the primary election illegal and ordering a special election for the county treasurer's post.
Bongivengo and her Democratic opponent, Gary Felasco, both waged write-in campaigns for the Republican nomination. Felasco won both the Democratic and Republican nominations.
Malfunction
The problem apparently came on election night when there was a malfunction in the county tabulating machines and 29 boxes had to be recounted. Those boxes, Bongivengo contends, were taken away from workers counting write-in votes and all votes may not have been recorded.
She paid to have three boxes opened after friends and neighbors told her they wrote her name on the ballot as the Republican candidate.
A recount of Bongivengo's home district showed she had 22 more Republican write-in votes than were originally counted. She gained four more votes from the other boxes that were recounted.
Sixteen votes now separate the two candidates for the Republican nomination for county treasurer.
John Bongivengo told elections board members a recount of the remaining 26 boxes would be the most efficient way to solve the problem.
Bongivengo's request for a new election is slated for a court hearing at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.