Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Results are in (Updated)

Here is the breakdown of votes.  The first column of numbers represents the number of registered voters.  The second column represents number of ballots cast.  The third column is the voter turn out.  From the Allegheny County website:

MT LEBANON WARD 1 DIST 1         778 . 343 44.09
MT LEBANON WARD 1 DIST 2         665 . 183 27.52
MT LEBANON WARD 1 DIST 3         621 . 293 47.18
MT LEBANON WARD 1 DIST 4         727 . 283 38.93
MT LEBANON WARD 1 DIST 5         555 . 242 43.60
MT LEBANON WARD 1 DIST 6        1110 . 410 36.94
MT LEBANON WARD 1 DIST 7         727 . 248 34.11
MT LEBANON WARD 2 DIST 1         980 . 411 41.94
MT LEBANON WARD 2 DIST 2         592 . 220 37.16
MT LEBANON WARD 2 DIST 3         622 . 268 43.09
MT LEBANON WARD 2 DIST 4         538 . 182 33.83
MT LEBANON WARD 2 DIST 5         562 . 251 44.66
MT LEBANON WARD 2 DIST 6         535 . 217 40.56
MT LEBANON WARD 2 DIST 7         593 . 237 39.97
MT LEBANON WARD 2 DIST 8        1042 . 382 36.66
MT LEBANON WARD 3 DIST 1         625 . 291 46.56
MT LEBANON WARD 3 DIST 2         828 . 298 35.99
MT LEBANON WARD 3 DIST 3         665 . 278 41.80
MT LEBANON WARD 3 DIST 4         699 . 240 34.33
MT LEBANON WARD 3 DIST 5         613 . 224 36.54
MT LEBANON WARD 3 DIST 6         432 . 159 36.81
MT LEBANON WARD 3 DIST 7         824 . 316 38.35
MT LEBANON WARD 3 DIST 8         322 . 148 45.96
MT LEBANON WARD 4 DIST 1         718 . 194 27.02
MT LEBANON WARD 4 DIST 2         857 . 230 26.84
MT LEBANON WARD 4 DIST 3         730 . 195 26.71
MT LEBANON WARD 4 DIST 4         634 . 245 38.64
MT LEBANON WARD 4 DIST 5         628 . 253 40.29
MT LEBANON WARD 4 DIST 6         634 . 236 37.22
MT LEBANON WARD 4 DIST 7         806 . 223 27.67
MT LEBANON WARD 5 DIST 1         603 . 206 34.16
MT LEBANON WARD 5 DIST 2         424 .  95 22.41
MT LEBANON WARD 5 DIST 3         616 . 192 31.17
MT LEBANON WARD 5 DIST 4         564 . 219 38.83
MT LEBANON WARD 5 DIST 5         647 . 257 39.72
MT LEBANON WARD 5 DIST 6         453 . 170 37.53
MT LEBANON WARD 5 DIST 7         770 . 287 37.27
MT LEBANON WARD 5 DIST 8         948 . 252 26.58

The following has been updated since last night's posting on the County website.

Commissioner MT LEBANON WARD 1
          (Vote For  1
           Thomas Michael Brown (REP).  .  .  .  .       614   32.30
           John Bendel (DEM).  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,278   67.23          

           WRITE-IN.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .         9     .47

          Commissioner MT LEBANON WARD 3
          (Vote For  1
           Joseph J. DeIuliis (REP)  .  .  .  .  .       823   43.36
           Kristen Linfante (DEM) .  .  .  .  .  .     1,063   56.01          

           WRITE-IN.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .        12     .63

          Commissioner MT LEBANON WARD 5
          (Vote For  1
           William L. Hoon (REP)  .  .  .  .  .  .       670   41.74
           Kelly Fraasch (DEM) .  .  .  .  .  .  .       930   57.94          

           WRITE-IN.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .         5     .31
School Director MT LEBANON
          (Vote For  5
           James Edmund Cannon (REP) .  .  .  .  .     3,974   11.42
           Scott D. Goldman (REP/DEM).  .  .  .  .     5,365   15.42
           Ed Kubit (REP/DEM)  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     5,627   16.18
           Elaine L. Cappucci (REP/DEM) .  .  .  .     6,236   17.93
           Lawrence Mark Lebowitz (REP/DEM).  .  .     6,028   17.33
           William L. Cooper (DEM).  .  .  .  .  .     4,636   13.33
           WRITE-IN.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     2,922    8.40

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow.

Anyone notice that the last eight elected commissioners were not incumbents?

None of these races were close.

Charles Jones

Anonymous said...

Now just maybe you will understand that the positions held on this blog are the positins of the minority?

Lebo Citizens said...

The "positins" on this blog come from people in the community, one who hides behind the name "Anonymous." They have the courage to say what they feel and put their name to it.
I am not publishing any more anonymous comments. I published this one of several because it reflects the school district's inability to spell correctly. As for the anonymous comments, it is sad that you don't have backbone to sign your name even though I know you are faithful readers.
Elaine

Anonymous said...

Readers and contributors to this blog decided to not just put their heads in the sand. Mt. Lebanon unfortunately as a whole, has many sheep....may we all now be blindly led off of the cliff that will soon follow. Baaahhhhhhh


Not AFRAID to sign my name,
Laura Yaremcho

Lebo Citizens said...

Charles, I am amazed at what happened in Ward 1. Look at who got one third of the votes.

In our ward, the incumbent didn't represent his constituents. That is why I ran against him. I hope it will not be more of the same in 2012.

In Ward 5, I think an incumbent would have won, had he chosen to run again.

Congratulations to the newly elected commissioners.


Elaine

Lebo Citizens said...

Let me be clear. The anonymous comments that I deleted were not kind.
Thanks, Laura, for your spot-on comment and your courage to voice your opinion.
Elaine

Richard Gideon said...

According to Allegheny County, 9,378 Mt. Lebanon residents voted out of a total of 25,687 registered voters (an increase of 152 registered votes from what the County reported in the Primary – not unusual). That means that 36.51% of those who could have voted did so, and 63.49% of those who could have voted did not! The “status quo” side won with these numbers, but it is hardly a mandate. The interesting figure in the County's report is the write-in percentage, at 8.62%. That four people could garner 8.62% of the total vote with about a weeks notice of their candidacy is remarkable.

If the “status quo” side has the “majority” why didn't they put their beloved high school project up for referendum, and ask for sufficient funding to get what they wanted in the first place? The only thing the "status quo" side can claim is that they have the majority of a minority of those who cared enough to vote.

Greg Nilsen said...

So, for the school board voting, the people who got the most votes were those tied to both "straight party" ticket options. Anyone surprised?

This is the reason I think "straight party" options are a huge detriment to our voting process. I don't even think the parties should be presented on the ballot. It's your responsibility as a voter to know these things going in.

Anonymous said...

I hate arguing about politics, especially the day after the election. The losers are mad and the winners think they are right about everything. Therefore, I will stay away from opinions (for the most part) and simply offer some observations. Voter turnout in to 30-40% range seems to be the norm anymore and personally I’ve tired of arguing that point. The simple sad truth is that most people don’t vote. Or at least they don’t vote all of the time. If there’s a way to change that, I’m all ears, but otherwise I think even the candidates and political strategists understand that elections are really won and lost at that level of voter turnout.

I think it is unfair to characterize Lebo folks as sheep who blindly follow. In fact, I would offer this year’s write-in totals as direct evidence to the contrary. If you glance at the other SB elections around Allegheny County you will quickly conclude that these figures are indeed a sign of an active and interested electorate. By comparison, Bethel Park (which certainly has its share of disgruntled taxpayers, a recent teacher’s strike and a disjointed high school project) only saw 122 write in votes in a SB election with 3 incumbents. Further, I think more than a few voters were turned off by the Ward 3 incumbent's recent performance (or lack of performance) and they chose not to continue the status quo. That result is sign of anything but voter apathy in my opinion. I would offer that our residents are far more politically active, engaged and aware than a lot of our neighboring communities. Can I support that theory, no, but I think many readers of this blog would agree. And keep in mind, just because things didn’t go a particular way in an election does not necessarily translate to the conclusion that the other side’s supporters are clueless.

If anything, this election has clearly underscored the power of blogs, social media and email. The fact that the write-in group was able to secure so many votes in such a short period of time is amazing. In fact, it underscores my earlier questions about the timing of their efforts. Imagine what they could have done if they started two weeks, two months earlier. While I still believe that the write in campaign was a strategy to improve Mr. Cannon’s chances of being elected and nothing else, these totals clearly reflect that a well-orchestrated undertaking to promote an off-ballot candidate can be successful (and perhaps cheaper than a normal candidacy) if done at the right time and in the right way.

Dave Franklin

Richard Gideon said...

If you'll permit me one final point: The County claims that there were 9,378 ballots cast (voters) in Mt. Lebanon, out of the aforementioned 25,687 registered voters. Since each voter had the right to vote for up to five school board candidates, and given the number of people who showed up to vote, the total number of school board votes should have been 46,890. But the actual total number was 33,509. The percentages shown for each candidate are with respect to the total number of votes cast, not the number of ballots cast. Here we see an interesting anomaly, explained by the fact that not all people casting ballots effected five school board votes, and not all people voting in this election voted for ANY school board candidates at all!

Anonymous said...

David,

Although you say "While I still believe that the write in campaign was a strategy to improve Mr. Cannon’s chances of being elected and nothing else,", I can assure that absolutely was not the case. I sincerely hoped we could get a board majority elected.

I am going back to soaking my feet....working the polls takes a toll!

-Charlotte Stephenson

Lebo Citizens said...

The PTA showed their true colors. I bet Ed is gloating. Sorry, Ed, but it doesn't change what I think of you. My guess is that in four years, no one will want to run again. Young families will be moving to Chartiers Valley because the taxes will be more affordable and the School District will be more appealing.
Elaine

Anonymous said...

Mr. Franklin, while we disagree on some subjects your observations concerning the write-in vote I believe are exactly on target.
I don't agree that the write-in campaign was primarily a ploy to get Cannon elected though.
That may have been a part of the strategy, but following the activities of these candidates over the past year or so I believe there was more to it than that.
Just getting Mr. Cannon on the board would have little impact-- we had two directors at one time (Fraasch & Hart) that had trouble advancing positions similar to Mr. Cannon's.
I think these candidates realized he'd need support. Unfortunately, as you observe they threw their hats into the ring just a little late.
Had Mr. Cannon crossed filed and the write-ins started a few weeks earlier we would have seen much different results I suspect.
Considering the numbers the writes-ins generated in a very short time we can come to two conclusions.
1. There is a large pool of residents dissatisfied with the board staus quo. I suspect they may have seen more votes had they assured voters it wasn't just a campaign for Cannon.
2. Mt. Lebanon jackasses and elephants may become extinct due to blogging and email. Furthermore, we had officals from one party endorsing candidates from the other. So just what does the affilation with one or the other mean?
Also, I've always hated lawn signs. Thank god, with social media you can at least get infomation on the candidates conveniently.
Thanks Elaine, Tom and Joe.
Dick Saunders

John Ewing said...

Mr. Jones wrote:

"Anyone notice that the last eight elected commissioners were not incumbents?"

Does anyone know how many replaced commissioners who did not seek reelection?