There will officially be at least two new faces next year on the
McKean County board of commissioners.

On Wednesday, Director of Elections Judy Ordiway released the
final results from the May 15 primary election, which saw former
commissioner Al Pingie and Port Allegany Mayor Joe DeMott secure
the Republican nod.

On the Democratic side, Commissioner Chairman Clifford Lane and
Judy Church will face each other in the general election to
determine the third seat on the panel.

According to the results, DeMott was the leading vote-getter on
the GOP side with 1,880 votes; Pingie, 1,760; Richard Danielson,
1,522; John Egbert, 1,484; Larry Stratton, 1,219; Tim Yohe, 1,083;
and Jeremy Kosmac, 240.

Meanwhile, on the Democratic ticket, Church earned 972 votes;
Lane, 668; Geoffrey Beck, 584; and Paul Lathrop, 485.

The win by DeMott and Pingie knocked off two-thirds of the
latest incarnation of The New Directions Team, Egbert and
Danielson.

In other races across the county, on the Republican ticket,
Coroner Mike Cahill received 3,360 votes compared to challenger
Vince Gaeto with 1,549.

Ordiway said Cahill also gained 122 write-in votes on the
Democratic side, compared to Gaeto’s 60 tallies. That means Cahill
will appear on both the Republican and Democratic ticket in the
fall general election.

Also, District Attorney John Pavlock received 3,424 votes;
Harrijane Hannon, 4,119; and Anne Bosworth, 4,079. All appeared on
the Republican side and were unopposed.

In the race for Bradford City mayor, Republican Councilman Tom
Riel defeated fellow Councilman Dan Costello by a 537 to 406 vote
margin. On the Democratic side, Councilman Bob Onuffer garnered 138
votes.

Riel and Onuffer will square off in the general election for the
mayor’s seat.

For Bradford City Council, Councilman Ross Neidich received 507
votes compared to Randall Turner, who gained 381 marks. In the race
for the two-year seat, Republican Bob Tingley garnered 682 votes.
Tingley ran against write-in candidate Gary Hoy, who received 24
Democratic votes and 13 from the GOP for the two-year term, and 21
Democratic votes and 3 on the Republican side for the four-year
seat.

Lastly, the Bradford treasurer race went to Karen Hector with
467 votes. She was followed by Robert Pecora with 342 tallies and
Jennifer Frasier with 145 marks. All three ran on the Republican
ticket.

In Bradford Township, Gayle Bauer won the Republican nod for the
six-year seat with 279 votes. She was followed by Supervisor Tom
Vickery with 240 tallies, Michael Cleveland, 89; and Thomas Brown,
73.

For the two-year seat, Republican Supervisor Don Cummins bested
Pamela Taylor by a 403 to 264 margin.

Over in neighboring Foster Township, Republican Supervisor
Robert Slike Jr. outgained challenger Michael Scrivo by a 361 to
168 tally.

In the race for Smethport Borough Council, five candidates ran
on the Republican ticket for three seats. Capturing those positions
were David Ball with 258 votes, followed by Kent Herzog with 228
and Brian Gustafson, 187. Also garnering votes were Wendy Manning
with 116 and Edward Althouse, 113.

Elsewhere, five people challenged for four seats on Kane Borough
Council. The top four vote-getters for those positions were
Republicans Robert O’Rourke with 202 votes and Janet Bard, 182, and
Democrats Howard Kane, 182 marks and Michael Merry, 170. Democrat
Al Renzi garnered 119 votes.

Meanwhile, Ordiway said an interesting event happened in Otto
Township.

There, Francis Marshall received 101 write-in votes on the
Republican ticket for a four-year term as supervisor – all had the
correct spelling of his name. Meanwhile, Marshall was also written
in 21 times on the Democratic ticket for a six-year term, again
with the correct spelling of his name. There was no Democrat
running for office on the four-year term.

It’s very unusual for a candidate to receive that many votes as
a write-in without there being some deviation in the spelling of a
name.

If he accepts the position, Marshall will appear on the
Republican ticket for a four-year term; he will also appear on the
Democratic side for the six-year seat. Candidates running for a
township seat only need 10 votes to appear on the ballot.

For the six-year seat in the township, Republican Cynthia
Gardner captured 149 votes. She was unopposed going into the
primary election.

With that said, Ordiway believes the write-in vote is easier to
perform on the new electronic voting machines, as compared to the
old lever-type devices previously used in the county. There were
also numerous write-ins for other offices across the county on
election night.