Dem nod goes to Klein

BY STACI WILSON

After write-in votes for the Susquehanna County district attorney position were counted, it appears Robert Klein will be unopposed on the November ballot.

A total of 720 write-in votes were made in the district attorney race on the Democratic ballot.

According to Susquehanna County Voter Registrar Laurence Hardy, just counting names spelled correctly, Klein held an eight point margin over Marion O’Malley, 263-255.

In the most common misspellings of the name, Klein – last name only – garnered 72 votes.

If accumulated with just the two most common spellings, Klein would have 335 votes from the Democratic voters.

The most common misspelling of O’Malley’s name was missing the apostrophe – she received 29 votes with that spelling.

If accumulated, the two most common spellings would give O’Malley 284 votes.

In a close race on the Republican ballot in the May 19 Primary, Klein edged out O’Malley by 36 votes (2,283- 2,247).

The Returns Board began meeting on Friday, May 22 and signed off on the official books, Thursday, May 29. “It was a mammoth task,” Hardy said, noting the large number of write-in votes.

In Mountain View, Region 1B (Clifford Twp.), no name appeared on the ballot but the results were close in write-in campaigns mounted by David Schulte and Laurie DeMark.

Write-ins for “Laurie DeMark” earned 45 votes; and write-ins for “David Schulte” garnered 43.

But there were variations of the write-in names. If a move to accumulate those votes was made, Schulte would be the highest vote-getter in the race.