Ruling allows officials to begin recount today

An injunction was granted after a candidate questioned ballot handling.
ERIE (AP) -- A county judge ordered election officials to set aside the results of a tight race for Erie county executive until a recount today.
Judge Michael E. Dunlavey ruled Saturday after representatives of Dale McBrier, the Republican candidate, questioned the handling of absentee and provisional ballots by the county's Election Bureau.
Unofficial results in Tuesday's election showed McBrier finishing ahead of Democrat Mark DiVecchio by a mere six votes.
David Black, a lawyer for McBrier, asked the court to stop election workers from reviewing absentee ballots in the race. The request, filed on behalf of McBrier and the Erie County Republican Committee, alleged election officials counted absentee ballots Thursday without allowing observers to view the process.
Dispute
McBrier and the county GOP had asked to see the outside of provisional ballots -- those cast by voters showing up at a polling place who either aren't registered there or don't have identification. The outside of the ballots would contain the voters' names but not the votes, officials said.
County Election Board solicitor Anthony Logue in a letter denied the Republican request.
But Black pointed out that Logue's letter also stated absentee ballots were being counted in the office, which, Black said, was a violation of law.
Black asked Dunlavey to order election officials to immediately stop counting and sorting through all absentee and provisional ballots, account for any ballots destroyed or tampered with, and produce all ballots -- including those already counted.
County Councilman Kyle Foust told the judge that election officials have not disqualified any ballots. Councilman Fiore Leone said absentee ballots are counted at polling stations in the presence of observers on election night, and those numbers are already in the vote count.
"As far as provisional ballots, we felt everyone's vote is private. We did not want anyone seeing their names," Leone said.
In agreeing to the injunction, Dunlavey said, "The last thing the county needs is the perception that things were not going the right way."
The final vote count is to begin at 9 a.m. today.
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