Provisional Ballots

For the first time in a presidential election, provisional ballots were used in most states, including Pennsylvania, where there were scattered reports of shortages and confusion over the new method of voting. Under a 2002 federal law, prospective voters can use provisional ballots if there are questions about their eligibility to vote. The large turnout and high number of first-time voters left some Pennsylvania officials from Allegheny County to eastern Delaware County without enough ballots.

Not long ago in Pennsylvania - as recently as the 2000 presidential election - there would have been few remedies for nearly 54,000 voters turned away because their names weren't on the rolls. In Philadelphia, these voters could have spent the next several hours making an appearance before a local elections-court judge who might, or might not, affirm their right to vote. In the suburbs, they would have had to make the possibly long trek to the county seat to lodge an appeal.

A late-night letter from the state attorney general on Election Night ordered the provisional ballots in all counties to be impounded, and that has stalled final vote counts for state, county and municipal races. Around midnight on Tuesday, when the gubernatorial race was still neck-and-neck, Attorney General Peter Verniero ordered counties to place the provisional ballots under lock and key and posted state troopers on 24-hour guard. Yesterday, the troopers remained in place as candidates and party officials across the state awaited the official results of some of the closest races.

New Jersey's provisional ballots, which were supposed to make it easier for people who had moved within their county to vote, ended up costing the state hundreds of thousands of dollars for printing, and the counties untold thousands for workers' overtime and retraining. And the 15,000 votes that the provisional ballots brought on Nov. 5 probably won't warrant their return next year, state election officials say. The new ballots came to New Jersey this year because of a provision in the National Voter Registration Act, also known as the "motor-voter law. " It required states to give voting rights to those who had moved within their jurisdiction, or county, but who had not changed their address with the local board of elections.

Republicans were tentatively declaring victory in Voorhees yesterday, but Mayor Pamela Hammer and the Democrats say they won't admit defeat until 186 provisional ballots are counted this morning. While everyone anxiously awaited the final count, some blamed the new provisional ballots for the confusion. Tuesday's poll results showed that Hammer, who led the race with 4,316 votes, held on to her Township Committee seat but lost her post as mayor. Republican Craig Reider, with 4,234 votes, appeared to have captured the second open seat, which would give his party the majority on the five-person committee and the right to select a Republican as next year's mayor.

For more than a week, the political landscape in Voorhees was stuck in uncertainty. But when the county finished counting and verifying 186 provisional ballots yesterday, the results were no different than on election night: Democratic Mayor Pam Hammer and Republican Craig Reider had won the open seats on the Township Committee; the Republicans had gained control, and Hammer had lost her post as mayor. Hammer, who had served as mayor for the last five years, said, "I am very disappointed that the Democratic administration won't be able to lead Voorhees into the 20th century.

More than half of the provisional ballots cast in last month?s election in Pennsylvania were tossed out by county officials, an Inquirer survey has found, prompting some election observers to call for changes in the new voting method. About a third of the 53,698 ballots reviewed by county election officials were validated and accepted for all races, while 12 percent more only partially counted - that is, only votes for statewide candidates, and president, were tabulated. "If citizens of Pennsylvania tried to exercise their civic function and went to vote - as we want people to do - and relatively few were counted, well, that?s a cause for concern and suggests that laws need to be reexamined," said Edward B. Foley, director of the election law program at Ohio State University?s law school.

Election officials yesterday completed a count of provisional ballots cast in Burlington and Camden Counties and announced that the unofficial results of the Seventh District Assembly race would remain the same - a split ticket. Burlington County Democratic Party officials said they would request today a recount of the results, which indicate that Republican Ken Faulkner, 49, of Delanco, and Democrat Herbert Conaway Jr., 34, of Burlington City, will be going to Trenton to represent Pennsauken and 14 communities in Burlington County.

School district officials asked the Burlington County Board of Elections yesterday to open 13 provisional ballots that were not tallied in Tuesday's tie vote on a $38 million bond issue to build two schools. The board agreed to review the ballots, but it did not say when. Provisional ballots are used by residents who went to the wrong voting location, recently changed their address, or were not properly registered. The Board of Elections can deem those ballots ineligible or have them counted.

Swamped with thousands of handwritten ballots, county election officials say they may request an extension of the deadline for certification of county and municipal election results. The delay, caused by provisional ballots that are new to New Jersey's election process, could force candidates in close races to wait even longer to find out how they fared in the Nov. 5 election. Election workers in Burlington and Camden Counties have been working overtime to sort through the paper ballots, cast by voters who moved within a county or whose names did not appear on registration lists at their local polling site.

After more than eight years of trying and two of the most closely contested elections in Philadelphia history, Republican David Oh has won a seat on City Council. When he takes the job in January, Oh will become the first Asian American to serve on Council. "I think it's a point of pride for Asian Americans in Philadelphia," Oh said Tuesday. "At the end of the day, we're all Philadelphians, and it's important that we all come together to improve our city. " Oh declared victory for an at-large Republican spot on Philadelphia's 17-member legislative body over Al Taubenberger, who bounced back from a weak showing in the May primary to lose to Oh by just 171 votes.

After more than eight years of trying and two of the most closely contested elections in Philadelphia history, Republican David Oh on Tuesday won a seat on City Council. When he takes the job in January, Oh will become the first Asian-American to serve on Council. "I think it's a point of pride for Asian-Americans in Philadelphia," Oh said. "At the end of the day, we're all Philadelphians, and it's important that we all come together to improve our city. " Oh declared victory for an at-large Republican spot on Philadelphia's 17-member legislative body over Al Taubenberger, who bounced back from a weak showing in the May primary to lose to Oh by just 171 votes.

Incumbent Jack Severson and challenger David A. Thatcher were surprised by the unofficial results of Laurel Springs' mayoral election Tuesday night. Neither had won. When all the machine votes had been tallied, they were dead-even: 268 votes for Severson, the Democrat, and 268 votes for Thatcher, the Republican. "I thought it was quite strange, to say the least," Severson said. Thatcher, a former mayor of the Camden County borough who serves on the council, found himself agreeing with his opponent.

Wisconsin justice accuses colleague MADISON, Wis. - A member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court's liberal faction has accused a conservative fellow justice of choking her during an argument in her office earlier this month - a charge he denied. Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Justice David Prosser put her in a choke hold. She contacted the newspaper late Saturday after Prosser denied rumors about the altercation. "The facts are that I was demanding that he get out of my office and he put his hands around my neck in anger in a choke hold," Bradley told the newspaper.

Karen Brown, a former Catholic-school teacher, has won the Republican nomination for mayor of Philadelphia with a 65-vote margin over real estate agent John Featherman, according to a final but still unofficial count. City election officials said Friday that Brown had 8,370 votes, including absentee and provisional ballots, compared with Featherman's 8,305. A three-judge panel is expected to certify the vote count next week. - Bob Warner

Karen Brown, an ex-Democrat and former Catholic school teacher, has won the Republican nomination for mayor with a 65-vote margin over real estate agent John Featherman, according to a final but still unofficial count. City election officials said Friday that Brown had 8,370 votes, including absentee and provisional ballots, compared to Featherman's 8,305. A three-judge panel is expected to certify the count next week.   Follow the Inquirer at www.Twitter.com/PhillyInquirer and www.Facebook.com/PhillyInquirer

Karen Brown, the Democratic committeewoman recruited by Republican City Committee leaders to run for mayor, appeared yesterday to have won the GOP nomination as she moved out of reach of her primary opponent. Brown now leads John Featherman by 58 votes. A count of absentee, alternative and military ballots completed yesterday showed that Brown had taken in an additional 81 votes while Featherman picked up 80. That added a single vote to the 57-vote margin Brown earned last week out of nearly 16,500 cast in the primary.

Karen Brown, a former Catholic-school teacher who joined the Republican Party just this year, has solidified her narrow lead in the race for GOP's mayoral nomination over real estate agent John Featherman, according to unofficial returns. Brown had a 57-vote lead over Featherman after Philadelphia election officials tabulated the returns from voting machines, and the margin grew to 58 votes Tuesday with the count of absentee ballots. Brown had 81 votes from absentees, Featherman 80. All that remains to be counted are provisional ballots, cast by voters who showed up at the polls on primary election day May 17 but were not listed as registered voters in the materials distributed in advance to the city's voting places.

A week after the primary election, former schoolteacher Karen Brown is emerging as the apparent Republican candidate for mayor. But opponent John Featherman said he is not giving up yet. "I would agree it's leaning more in Brown's favor at this point, but it's not lost yet," he said. " . . . Nobody knows how many provisional ballots there are or what their effect will be. " City election officials completed a count of absentee ballots today and they left Brown with a 58-vote margin over Featherman, out of some 16,500 votes cast by GOP voters.