Beaver County Judicial Race - Lawsuit demands a recount
Beaver County Times Online. 06/11/2005 by J.D. Prose, Times Staff

BEAVER - Beaver County Assistant District Attorney Kim Tesla joined seven other county residents Friday to file a lawsuit against the county's board of elections and elections director demanding a manual recount of the Democratic primary race for judge.
 
The election results have Tesla trailing county Solicitor Deborah Kunselman by 190 votes.

"I don't think it has anything to do with sour grapes whatsoever," Tesla said in response to questions about the reason for a lawsuit.

Instead, Tesla said, the lawsuit was filed to ensure that "the will of the electorate is basically obeyed."

In a 14-page complaint filed Friday, the plaintiffs allege that the county commissioners, sitting as the board of elections, and elections director Dorene Mandity disregarded state election law and that the process to count paper ballots was "fundamentally flawed."

Several of the Democrats who joined Tesla, a registered Democrat, in the suit have connections to state Rep. Mike Veon, D-14, West Mayfield, who supported Tesla and called for a countywide recount the day after the primary.

Democrats who joined the suit are Annamarie Perretta Rosepink of Beaver Falls, Veon's district director; Dennis Pietrandrea of Koppel, a Veon legislative assistant; Janet Nero of Beaver, a Veon legislative assistant; Genoria Nesmith of Daugherty Township, a Veon legislative assistant; and her son, Robert Nesmith Jr., also of Daugherty.

Plaintiffs identifying themselves as Republicans were Elaine Hildebrand of Pulaski Township and Carol Fedeles of Daugherty.

Veon's election committee contributed at least $6,500 to Tesla's campaign, according to Tesla's campaign finance records.

Rosepink watched the counting process and said there were enough concerns to justify a lawsuit.

"There are still some questions in our minds in regards to the accuracy of the system being used," she said.

Rosepink said she spent personal time as well as state time overlooking the process because of the state's role in decertifying the county's touch-screen voting machines, which led to the use of paper ballots in the primary and, possibly, in November.

Tesla and Rosepink stressed that Kunselman's lead is less than 1 percent out of nearly 25,200 votes cast in the judge race. Kunselman beat Tesla by nearly 2,000 votes in the Republican primary.

Among many problems, the plaintiffs allege that a recount of a sampling of ballots was done incorrectly, that Mandity specifically, not randomly as required by law, picked precincts for recount, and that there were discrepancies between tabulations of the same ballots.

"Petitioners believe that there has been error committed in the tabulation process generally such that the court must assume jurisdiction of the official tabulation process," according to the suit.

Besides demanding a manual recount, the lawsuit asks the court to require county officials to conduct a test of the ballot-scanning machines; respond to questions from the plaintiffs; suspend the certification of ballots, which was expected to happen on Wednesday; and extend the five-day period to file petitions challenging the election.

Mandity, citing the pending litigation, refused to discuss the lawsuit. Assistant county solicitor Andrea Biondi, who is handling the matter because Kunselman has recused herself from the case, also declined to comment on the suit.

Earlier this week, though, Mandity said that all rules were followed and that she hadn't found any problems with the election process other than that paper ballots were more time-consuming than the electronic system.

Biondi did say, however, that the election law cited in the suit provides for a hearing to be conducted within three days. It was unclear on Friday if a county judge would handle the case or if a judge from outside the county would be requested.

County officials were also wondering Friday who will pay for a recount if one is ordered.

When ballots are typically challenged, there is a $145.50-per-precinct fee to conduct a recount. The county has 129 precincts, so conducting a countywide recount would cost nearly $18,770.

Commissioners Chairman Dan Donatella said that officials were reviewing the lawsuit and that he and Commissioners Joe Spanik and Charlie Camp would discuss the matter when Camp returns from, coincidentally, an election-reform conference in California.

"Obviously, this will be a contest in the court, and the court will have to make that decision (on a recount)," Donatella said.

Kunselman said she wasn't shocked by the lawsuit.

"It's no surprise. I've been waiting for it, basically, because the day after the election, Mike Veon, who heavily supported Kim, demanded that the county recount them all," she said. "I have to put my faith in the system."