Former candidate drops her bid for new election

The election board will be given the election
complaints.

By LAURE CIOFFI

VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — A former county commissioner candidate has dropped her court bid to have a new election in Lawrence County.

Shirley Sallmen, who placed fourth in the Lawrence County commissioner’s race in November, had filed a petition in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court asking that a new election be held.

“I wanted another election because I thought it wasn’t fair. There were a multitude of things that happened in different precincts,” she said.

Among Sallmen’s complaints were that not all of the iVotronic touch-screen voting machines were working in the precincts and some failed to show a zero tally when they were first turned on.

She said she learned of the problems by talking to election workers from the polling places.

But after consulting with attorney Joe Kearney, Sallmen has decided to drop her court action and take her complaints directly to the county board of elections.

“My client would like to have some input. Her primary concern is that we are down to 33 percent voter turnout. These glitches that occurred in November are certainly not encouraging people to come out and vote,” Kearney said.

Tom Leslie, attorney for the county elections board, said he would give all of Sallmen’s information to the county elections board.

“I do think it’s in everyone’s best interest to do everything we can. I do agree that the judicial system is not the best place for this,” Leslie said.

Visiting Judge Michael Wherry of common pleas court agreed the matter was not a court issue. He formally dismissed the petition based on objections filed on behalf of the elections board and the three candidates who won the 2007 general election, Steve Craig, Dan Vogler and Rick DeBlasio.

Leslie said the primary objections were that Sallmen did not follow the specific procedures outlined in the election code for making complaints.

cioffi@vindy.com