Friday morning meeting scheduled to process remaining votes in Cabell/Walsh race

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The winner in the tight April 23 primary election Republican race for state representative in the 117th Legislative District may be known Friday.

Unless an appeal is filed, Luzerne County’s Election Board plans to open and tally the 13 remaining provisional ballots during a 9:30 a.m. meeting Friday, board Chairwoman Denise Williams said Monday.

Contender Jamie Walsh currently has a three-vote lead over incumbent Michael Cabell.

Processing of the provisional ballots was put on hold until appeals were exhausted, and Walsh has until Thursday if he opts to ask the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to consider taking up the matter.

Walsh has said he is still reviewing the matter with legal counsel and will issue a statement when he decides.

The county election board won’t be appealing to the Supreme Court, Williams said.

If Walsh appeals, the board will be unable to unseal the 13 ballots Friday, she said.

Twelve of the provisional ballots had been segregated because Walsh initially contested the board’s decision to accept them, although he withdrew those challenges or did not further challenge them to the county Court of Common Pleas.

The remaining provisional ballot was cast by Cabell’s cousin, Shane O’Donnell, in Butler Township.

Cabell won a Commonwealth Court appeal seeking to count O’Donnell’s ballot and not count a provisional ballot cast by Lake Township voter Timothy J. Wagner. These two ballots would be the focus of an appeal to the state Supreme Court, if filed. However, officials have said the remaining 12 must still be set aside pending the outcome.

Provisional paper ballots are cast at polling places when workers determine additional verification is needed for various reasons. During post-election adjudication, the county’s five-citizen election board reviews provisional ballots last to verify the voters were registered and did not also cast a mail ballot.

Before tallying any outstanding provisional ballots, the board would have to unseal them to make sure the ballots are inside the required blank inner secrecy envelopes, which must be shuffled to protect the voter confidentiality of the ballots inside them.

Cabell is expected to pick up a vote from O’Donnell, which would put Walsh two votes ahead.

Assuming the other 12 are in order, there are a range of potential mathematical result scenarios that could put either candidate in the lead or even leave them tied.

Walsh had attempted to increase his three-vote lead by throwing out six mail ballots that contained a majority of votes for Cabell that already were tallied and incorporated into the vote results. Walsh argued the ballots were invalid because the voters did not fill in the last two digits of the year on the outer envelope, but Commonwealth Court upheld the county court ruling to accept these ballots. The deadline is Saturday for Walsh to appeal that ruling to the state Supreme Court.

Williams said Friday’s adjudication meeting will be in the county’s Penn Place Building at the corner of Market Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilkes-Barre, although the county administration must identify which room. Williams said the room will be included in a required legal advertisement and an online posting of the meeting on the election page at luzernecounty.org.

Even if the unofficial winner is established Friday, there’s always the possibility the unsuccessful candidate will file a recount request in county court.

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.