Public Perception of Bristol Suit is Being Clouded, Says Group

Bristol Borough School Board Member, Charles Groff expressed clear frustration through the phone when he called LevittownNow  yesterday. Groff called to complain publicly about newspaper reports that in his eyes are clouding the real issue of the suit filed against the Bucks County Board of Elections Monday,  on behalf of Bristol Borough Councilman Pat Sabatini in the mayoral primary.

LevittownNow exclusively reported and published Tuesday afternoon, one section of the actual suit filed. (the section containing details on the north ward)

Groff and Councilman Tony Devine are each equally mystified about how the issue is being perceived publicly. “Clearly what’s being reported by other organization’s illustrates part of the problem here in the borough on a number of levels,” said Groff.  There are a number of mis-perceptions clouding the issue.  Saying all the petitioners are members of FEDUP is entirely inaccurate.  There are Republican voters in the borough who say their votes were not counted, that’s the real issue here, he said.

The suit itself, asks for a re-canvassing of republican votes based upon the signed affidavits of 14 registered republican voters throughout Bristol Borough, who say they voted for Sabatini in the Democratic Mayoral Primary but did so as Republican write-in votes.

There were no votes recorded for the mayoral candidate on the Republican side, according to the county election website,  certified last Friday afternoon. Sabatini needs 10 Republican write in votes in order to be placed on the ballot for the general election in November. He has the support of local Republicans

Devine said  the voices of disenfranchised voters need to be heard. We want the board of elections to know and acknowledge voters have been silenced for one of two reasons; fraud or human error.

Last weekend Groff and Devine surreptitiously approached voters in all 10 precincts of the borough, collecting 30 verification signatures in support of the petition as proscribed by statute in title  25 section 3261 and 3262  of the Pennsylvania Election Law which speaks to voter initiated requests for a re-count of ballots.

Attorney Lou Hornstine, of Hornstine, Pelloni, and Hornstine, speaking to the significant aspect of the suit, from his vantage point, said, “The concern we have is that in 9 out of 10 precincts there were no Republican write in votes for mayor registered. There were write-ins for other republican candidates, ” he said. “There are 17 republican voters, (14 of which signed affidavits) who claim to have written in Patrick Sabatini for Mayor on the Republican side, how they disappeared, is what we want to know.”

Additionally, on primary day, reports alleged that voting machines were closed before polls were scheduled to close, in the boroughs southward.

Board of Elections Director, Deena Dean, said there was in fact a machine went down on three separate occasions in a 45 –minute period. The machine was  restarted each time, but when it malfunctioned for a third time, it was shut down for the night since voter activity was at a crawl.

Dean said no one really knows why that specific machine was having mechanical issues, but said it could have been due to voters submitting write-in votes incorrectly.

“We can’t know what a voter actually does when in the booth,” she said.

It is Dean’s educated guess, that when voters pulled the manual slide to register a write in vote, they did so incorrectly. As a result, the machine malfunctioned and the vote isn’t counted towards the total for that candidate.

“It’s a situation like that, for example, which lead 44 voters in Bristol Borough to support this suit. They come from every precinct in the borough, Republicans and Democrats alike. They are not members of some community group. They are registered voters who firmly believe error or fraud existed that day, and we want them to be heard,” Groff said.

According to court records, Bucks County Judge Robert J. Melon will preside over the matter. No date for a hearing has been set at press time.

Amanda Kuehnle, provided editorial input for this article

 The Relevant Numbers of the Suit

Initial Claim in Suit Pg. 2 (6)

1) 31 Democratic Write in Votes Recorded for Sabatini in Borough Despite the fact he was listed as a Democratic Candidate.  No Republican votes counted    

Supporting Claim Pg 2 (8) At least 13 Additional Republican Votes Cast for Sabatini, not properly counted.  

Petitions signed by Republican Voters

-North Ward –Six Registered Republican Voters

-East Ward – Five Registered Republican Voters

-South Ward- Two Registered Republican Voters

-West Ward – One Registered Republican Voter

Verification Signed Borough Wide By Registered Voters

3 per district for covering 10 districts for a total of 30

Section 25