In re Recanvass of Certain Voting Machines & Absentee Ballots for the Democratic Primary Election for Candidates for Counsel

887 A.2d 330, 2005 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 702
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 30, 2005
StatusPublished

This text of 887 A.2d 330 (In re Recanvass of Certain Voting Machines & Absentee Ballots for the Democratic Primary Election for Candidates for Counsel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Recanvass of Certain Voting Machines & Absentee Ballots for the Democratic Primary Election for Candidates for Counsel, 887 A.2d 330, 2005 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 702 (Pa. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION BY

Senior Judge FLAHERTY.

Three qualified electors (Evancho, Mowl and Troth) and Council candidate John J. Harhai (Appellants) appeal from a decision of the Court of Common Pleas of West-moreland County which vacated its prior order which had provided for a recanvass-ing of votes in the City of Monessen. Appellants also appeal from an order of the trial court denying their Petition for Election Contest Nunc Pro Tunc.

On June 9, 2005 a petition to recanvass was filed on behalf of City Council candidate John J. Harhai and 39 qualified electors, all of which were represented by attorney Thomas L. Jones. By order dated June 22, 2005, a recanvass was ordered and the recanvass board was directed to present its report to the court on July 6, 2005. The recanvass revealed that candidate Harhai apparently received an additional nine votes in the Westgate Manor Precinct, apparently making him the winner over candidate Gagatko by a margin of two votes. However, on July 5, 2005, counsel for candidate Gagatko presented an Emergency Petition to Dismiss and/or Set Aside the Recanvass Proceeding (Emergency Petition) in which it was alleged that the signatures of the qualified electors were not executed in the presence of a notary, which is a jurisdictional defect that could not be cured. Specifically, the Emergency Petition states, in relevant part, that:

6. ... said Petition to Recanvass included thirteen counts wherein thirty-nine (39) allegedly qualified electors averred that fraud or error occurred, based upon information that they believed was rehable.
7. [The Notary Public’s] signature and seal appears on each and every one of the thirty-nine (39) verifications/affidavits signed by the electors within the Petition to Recanvass.
8. However, counsel for candidate Jeffrey Gagatko received confidential information considered to be extremely reliable that said signatures were not executed in the presence of said notary, and that said notary did not witness any of the signatures.
9. The Supreme Court has clearly and unequivocally held that electors must verify a petition to recanvass by means of oath or affirmation before a notary or similar official, (emphasis added) [In re: Contest of the 2003 General Election for the Office of Prothonotary of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Appeal of Matheny), 578 Pa. 3, 849 A.2d 230 (2004)].
10. An improper verification is a “jurisdictional defect that cannot be cured.” Id.

Thereafter, the trial court then scheduled an evidentiary hearing for July 11, 2005. Appellants did not file an answer or other response to the Emergency Petition. However, in their brief to this Court, Appellants state that: “For purposes of this appeal, since no hearing was held, the facts can be assumed to be as stated in Gagat-ko’s [Emergency Petition.]”

[332]*332Before the hearing was to begin, the parties informed the trial court that a hearing would not be necessary because they had reached a stipulation that the petition to recanvass was not signed in accordance with the law and that, according to the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of In re: Contest of the 2003 General Election for the Office of Prothonotary of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Appeal of Matheny), 578 Pa. 3, 849 A.2d 230 (2004), the recanvass proceeding should be dismissed.1 Accordingly, by order dated July 11, 2005, the trial court vacated its June 22, 2005 order which provided for a recanvassing of votes. Appellants have appealed that order to this Court. On July 21, 2005, Appellants filed an Application for Reconsideration, which the trial court denied by order dated July 25, 2005. Appellants also filed on August 5, 2005 a Petition to Contest Election Nunc Pro Tunc, which was denied. Appellants have also appealed that order to this Court.2

On appeal, Appellants, now represented by attorney Peter M. Suwak, argue that: 1) the trial court erred in determining that it did not have jurisdiction when the recan-vassing had already occurred which showed that the results had been improperly recorded and 2) alternatively, the trial court erred in dismissing a petition for election contest, nunc pro tunc, based upon the recent discovery of erroneous election tabulations, when concomitant petition for recanvassing was dismissed for faulty notarization.

The City of Monessen (Appellee) argues that Appellants, although represented by different counsel at the time, are bound by their stipulation that the recanvass proceeding should be dismissed. In the alternative, Appellees argue that, pursuant to the Matheny case, the lower court did not have jurisdiction to order the recanvass proceeding. Appellee also argues that the trial court correctly dismissed the Petition for Election Contest Nunc Pro Tunc because, pursuant to the Matheny case, it did not have jurisdiction.

In this case, the attorney for Appellants represented to the trial court that the petition to recanvass was not signed in accordance with the law and that the re-canvass should be dismissed. Appellants are bound by this stipulation. Appellants cannot at a later time hire new counsel and attempt to have the results of the recanvass accepted. There is no evidence that, at the time of the stipulation, Appellants’ [333]*333then attorney did not have authorization to enter into the stipulation. We also find it significant that, in their Application for Reconsideration, Appellants do not argue that attorney Jones did not have authority to enter into the stipulation. Rather, they argue that the Matheny case does not deprive the trial court of jurisdiction.

Furthermore, this Court does not believe that Appellants are entitled to have their Petition to Contest Election Nunc Pro Tunc granted. In support of their position, Appellants cite the Supreme Court case of In re Twenty-Sixth Election Dist., Second Ward, Borough of Lehighton, 351 Pa. 544, 41 A.2d 657 (1945) (the Koch case). In In re Recount of Ballots Cast in General Election on November 6, 1973, 457 Pa. 279, 325 A.2d 303 (1974), the Supreme Court summarized the Koch case as follows:

the posted return had shown that the candidate who received the majority of the votes cast had been duly elected. Thereafter, the County Board of Elections negligently computed the returns and returned a majority of the votes for the opposing candidate and although recognizing their error failed to correct it. There it was clear that the Board had lulled Koch into a false sense of security and this Court properly observed: ‘... the only appropriate remedy by which the negligence of the election board could be corrected was by an appeal Nunc Pro Tunc for a recount under Section 1407, 25 P.S. s 3157.’ Koch, supra at 550, 41 A.2d at 660.

Id. at 284-285, 325 A.2d at 307.

Before addressing Appellants’ argument, it is important to note the relevant portions of the Election Code.

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Related

In Re: Recount of Ballots
325 A.2d 303 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1974)
In Re Recanvassing of Certain Voting MacHines
475 A.2d 1325 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1984)
In Re Nomination of Flaherty
770 A.2d 327 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2001)
Koch Election Contest Case
41 A.2d 657 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1945)

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Bluebook (online)
887 A.2d 330, 2005 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 702, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-recanvass-of-certain-voting-machines-absentee-ballots-for-the-pacommwct-2005.