Bucks County election results: Dems take Central Bucks board; hold on to county government

Pennridge goes to the Democrats

The Democrats staged an upset in Pennridge and incumbent board member Ron Wurz (9,660), Chris Kaufman (9,604), Bradley Merkl-Gump (9,456), Leah Foster Rash (9,503) and Carolyn Sciarrino (9,694) all won their bids on Election Day, and the party will now control the board.

They bested Republican candidates, including incumbent Jonathan Russell (8,479), Josh Hogan (8,303), Bob Sellers (8,369), Jim York (8,245), and Barbara Vees (8,331), according to unofficial results posted after midnight.

Out of 37,992 Pennridge voters, about 50% are Republicans and only 34% are Democrats.

The GOP currently has an 8-1 majority on the board, and when the governing body reorganizes in December it will be the first time in recent memory that Democrats will have control.

Dems see blue wave in more school districts

As more voting precincts shuffled in late Tuesday night, Democrats continued to sweep or lead in several races.

Pennridge remained too close to call near midnight, with Democrats holding significant leads over Republicans.

About six of 20 precincts that make up Pennridge hadn’t fully reported in. Those six precincts, which included polling places in East Rockhill, Hilltown and Bedminster, also made up a large portion of the district’s voters.

For the Democrats: incumbent board member Ron Wurz had 8,938 votes; Chris Kaufman had 8,895 votes;  Bradley Merkl-Gump took 8,750 votes; Leah Foster Rash had 8,815 votes; and Carolyn Sciarrino had 8,979 votes.For the Republican candidates: incumbent Jonathan Russell had 7,736 votes; Josh Hogan, had 7,593 votes; Bob Sellers had 7,655 votes; Jim York took 7,543 votes; and Barbara Vees at 7,618 votes.

New Hope-Solebury School District seemed to sweep mostly Democrat as well.

John Augenblick, who took 3,309 votes; Montu Patel, who took 3,094 votes; and Judy McHenry Finn, with 3,086 votes, were on both party’s ballots.

Democrats Linda Szwedo and Nik Heble took 2,977 votes and 2,945 votes, respectively.

Since New Hope-Solebury is an at large district, like Pennridge, only the five candidates receiving the most votes will be elected.

Republicans Ronald Felix and Donald Martin fell behind at just 1,508 votes and 1,488 votes respectively.

Initial results in Bensalem School District also had the five highest candidates come from the Democrat ballots.

Democrats Karen Winters, 3,741 votes; Rebecca Mirra, 3,604 votes; Stephanie Ferrandez, 3,621 votes; Deborah King, 3,558 votes; and Cathy Dress, 3,514 votes, all placed higher than their GOP challengers.

Republicans in that race were Jim Kane, who took 2,510 votes; Heather Nicholas with 2,613 votes; Marc Cohen, at 2,528 votes; Eric Price, who got 2,461 votes; and Bryan Hanratty, at 2,434 votes.

Bucks County Democrats hold onto control of County government

Bob Harvie and Diane Ellis-Marseglia will return to Bucks County Board of Commissioners, holding onto to control of county government for the Democrats for a second term.

The Democratic incumbents declared victory Tuesday night and it appeared the GOP's Gene DiGirolamo would also retain his minority seat, leading running mate Pamela Van Blunk in returns at 11 p.m.

The race was closely watched as the county is almost evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. As of Oct. 30, the county has 197,943 registered Democrats and 193,894 Republicans with another 79,128 independent voters who have the numbers to swing an election.

The Dems ability to hold off a GOP challenge and win could bode well next year when the nation elects a president. Biden took Bucks County in 2020.

The Democrats also appeared to hold onto the four row offices -- clerk of the courts, treasurer, coroner and register of wills -- up for election in 2023, according to unofficial vote counts.

More: Democrats win commissioners race, retain control of Bucks County government

Democrats sweep Central Bucks board race; GOP leader out

Central Bucks school district will turn blue in December as Democrats swept five board seats in Tuesday’s election.

As results poured in around 10:30 Tuesday night clear winners began to emerge.

In Central Bucks Region 1, incumbent Democrat Karen Smith has 1,520 votes to Republican Dr. Steve Mass’ 837 votes.

Democrat Heather Reynolds, with 2,610 votes, leads incumbent school board President Dana Hunter, who has 2,357 votes, in Region 2.

Region 3 has Democrat Dana Foley at 2,368 votes to Republican Glenn Schloeffel’s 1,722 votes.

Democrat Rick Haring has 2,461 votes against Republican Aarati Martino’s 1,531 votes in Region 6.Region 8 has

Democrat Susan Gibson at 3,541 votes, Republican Tony Arjona has 1,599 votes.

More on Central Bucks contest: Democrats sweep Central Bucks School Board race

Central Bucks has been mired in controversies and culture wars over the past two years, including deep divisions over COVID protocols, library policy, teacher advocacy/neutrality in the classroom and transgender athlete participation.

Tuesday's election was largely seen as a referendum on those policies and the GOP leadership driving their approval. The new board will be seated in Decemeber, but the panel is due to meet again Nov. 14.

Early results favor Bucks County Democrats as more party voters use mail in ballots

Bucks County’s election results website has its first batch of votes in at about 8:30 p.m. with 44,942 ballots, or about 9.6% turnout so far.

The first results posting was expected to consist of mail-in ballots and, unsurprisingly, Democratic candidates in several races are taking an early lead.

More than 59,141 mail ballots were returned to the county as of about 3 p.m. today, about 40,294 of those coming from Democrat voters.

In the County Commissioners race, Democrat incumbents Diane Ellis-Marseglia and Robert Harvie have 34,612 votes and 32,202 votes, respectively. Republican incumbent Gene DiGirolamo and challenger Pamela A. Van Blunk have 9,937 votes and 8,669 votes, respectively.

The three-highest votes earned in that race will decide who sits on the Board of Commissioners next year.

Pennridge and Central Bucks Dem candidates see lead in early returns too

In Pennridge and Central Bucks, two of the most watched school board races in Bucks County, Democrats have very early sizable leads over their Republican opponents across the board, but the night is young, and there are plenty of votes yet to be counted as of 9 p.m.

All candidates in both districts are running for four-year terms.

In Central Bucks Region 1, incumbent Democrat Karen Smith has 1,108 votes to Republican Dr. Steve Mass’ 357 votes.

Democrat Heather Reynolds, with 1,073 votes, leads incumbent school board President Dana Hunter, who has 278 votes, in Region 2.

Region 3 has Democrat Dana Foley at 1,406 votes to Republican Glenn Schloeffel’s 433 votes.

Democrat Rick Haring has 1,354 votes against Republican Aarati Martino’s 384 votes in Region 6.

Region 8 has Democrat Susan Gibson at 1,595 votes, Republican Tony Arjona has 280 votes.

Republican voters outnumber Democrats in every region on the ballot in Central Bucks except for Region 8, which contains all of Doylestown Borough and two precincts from Doylestown Township. In every region, however, unaffiliated voters make up about 18% of the electorate.

The race in Central Bucks might come down to which candidates can reach across the most aisles.

The Democrats running in Pennridge are incumbent board member Ron Wurz, at 3,025 votes;  Chris Kaufman, at 3,062 votes;  Bradley Merkl-Gump, at 3,018 votes; Leah Foster Rash, at 3,044 votes; and Carolyn Sciarrino with 3,079 votes.

The Republican candidates are incumbent Jonathan Russell, at 711 votes; Josh Hogan, at 684 votes; Bob Sellers, at 693 votes; Jim York, at 663 votes; and Barbara Vees with 696 votes.

Republicans make up 50% of the roughly 38,000 voters in Pennridge, which will make the rest of the night an uphill battle to stay on top as more ballots come in. All counts are early and unofficial at this time.

Bucks County DA Weintraub to go to the bench

In early and unofficial returns, Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub received 38,877 votes as the cross-filed candidate for Judge of the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas.

Weintraub’s victory in that race is all but a foregone conclusion at this point. He was running uncontested.

Weintraub, a Republican, was appointed in 2016, when then-DA David Heckler retired. Weintraub won election in 2017 and re-election in 2021.

First Assistant District Attorney Jen Schorn has been the anticipated replacement for Weintraub should he win tonight’s race.

Polls are closed, results page is live

It’s 8 p.m. on Election Day and the polls are closed and the Bucks County election results website is live.

Bucks County election workers will now begin tallying up the first batch of mail ballots with plans to post some early results online around 8:30 tonight.

Hourly updates are expected after that, according to the county’s website, as election workers continue adding up mail-in and in-person ballots as they’re delivered to the administration building in Doylestown.

The county has had 40-person crews rotating on four-hour shifts since the polls opened today to prepare mail ballots, county spokesman James O’Malley told this news organization earlier today.

Those rotating shifts, composed of paid county employees who otherwise would have had the day off, will continue working throughout the night to hopefully have the preliminary results reported tomorrow morning.

Cherelle Parker elected mayor of Philadelphia

Philadelphia elected a new mayor Tuesday, sending the heavily favored Democrat Cherelle Parker to the top city office. She will be the first Black woman to be mayor of the nation's sixth largest city.

Parker bested Republican David Oh for the post.

Parker, 51, a former state legislator and former city councilmember, is favored to win in the heavily Democratic stronghold. Her tough-on-crime and moderate approach resonated with voters in a crowded primary in May.

-Associated Press

Bomb threat keeps 2 Pennsylvania precincts open for extra hour

Two precincts in a nearby Delaware County will remain open an extra hour after a bomb threat forced the evacuation of a polling place.

A Delaware County spokesperson says the county solicitor sought and won the extension from a judge after a threat forced the evacuation of Radnor High School and polling places for two precincts to move to Radnor Elementary in Wayne. Officials say police are investigating the threat.

Polls will remain open there until 9 p.m.

The state’s top-of-the-ticket race is an open seat for state Supreme Court, which could play an important role in settling legal challenges in the 2024 presidential election in the battleground state.-Associated Press

A quiet but steady day at the polls in Bucks County

It’s been a relatively quiet but steady Election Day and Bucks County spokesman James O’Malley said in a 5 p.m. phone interview that officials are optimistic that the initial vote count could be finished tomorrow morning.

Election workers have to wait until polls open before they can prepare mail-in ballots for counting after the polls have closed, a canvassing process that in the past has helped delay initial results until days after an election.

As of a little after 3 this afternoon, an estimated 59,141 ballots had been returned to the county to be sorted for the count after 8 tonight.

So far, about 40,294 Democrats, 13,416 Republicans and 5,431 other voters have returned their ballots.

Over the years, O’Malley said, the election workers in Bucks have hit a stride in canvassing the mail ballots.

“Our election workers have developed a pretty good system and they’re cruising through scanning right now,” O’Malley told this news organization Tuesday evening.

About 16,253 ballots are still waiting to be returned to the county offices. Voters have until the polls close to return the ballots to one of multiple drop box locations around Bucks County, including the Administration Building on Court Street in Doylestown and satelite election offices in Quakertown and Bristol Township.

“The ballot drop box here (in Doylestown) has been busy all day. No lines, but a steady flow of people,” O’Malley said.

While he didn’t have any official estimates, O’Malley added that some polling places were also reporting voter turnout at a steady pace most of the day.

The first results are expected to be posted on the county’s website around 8:30 tonight, with hourly updates if all goes smoothly, O’Malley said.

Northampton County reports error with voting machines

A voting machine company's clerical error caused votes in an eastern Pennsylvania county to appear to be flipped on a ballot question that asked whether a pair of incumbent state appeals judges should be retained, officials said Tuesday.

Voters were asked to decide whether Pennsylvania Superior Court Judges Jack Panella and Victor Stabile should be retained for additional 10-year terms. The “yes” or “no” votes for each judge were switched on a summary displayed to voters before they cast their ballot, said Charles Dertinger, the Northampton County director of administration. If a voter marked “yes” to retain Panella and “no” on Stabile, for example, it was reflected as “no” on Panella and “yes” on Stabile.

Voters noticed the error on the printed voting records produced by the touchscreen machines, and brought it to the attention of poll workers shortly after the start of voting Tuesday morning.

Despite the glitch on the printed summary, voters' actual choices were properly recorded by the machines' backend system, and their votes will be tabulated accurately, Dertinger said.

“What you read and what the computer reads are two different things. The computer does not read the text that is printed out," he said.

The issue affected all the county’s voting machines in use Tuesday, estimated at more than 300. The Pennsylvania Department of State said the problem was isolated to the two retention votes in Northampton County and that no other races statewide were affected.

The county obtained a court order Tuesday after the problem was discovered that allowed the machines to continue to be used.

-Associated Press

Live updates above for Bucks County Election results

You've seen the candidate's mailers, had campaigners knock at your door and probably watched an ad or two online.

The 2023 election is finally here and now it's your chance to choose who represents you on your town's governing board, in your school district and at the county's administration building.

It's Election Day and we'll be bringing you everything you need to know before, during and after the polls close Tuesday night.

Offices in 54 municipalities, 13 school districts, three county commissioner seats, four county row offices, including coroner, register of wills, treasurer and clerk of the courts and a handful of county and state judges are all on the ballot this year.

The Bucks County League of Womens Voters produced a voters guide that can be accessed here.

Check back often throughout the day and night as we provide information as it breaks.

Do I need ID to vote in Pennsylvania?

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. You will be allowed to cast your ballot if you are in line at your polling place at 8 p.m. so do not leave the line. It is too late to register to vote in this year’s election. To check your registration status, find your polling place, update your party affiliation, address or other information visit vote.pa.gov.

If this is your first time voting in Pennsylvania or at a new polling place, you must bring some form of identification. A Pennsylvania driver's license or other state issued ID is acceptable but voters can also use their passport, firearm permit or even a current utility bill. A full list of acceptable forms of identification can also be found on vote.pa.gov at this link.

A map of Bucks County’s polling places is below:

Where can I drop off my mail-in ballot in Bucks County?

About 75,381 Bucks County voters requested a mail-in ballot for Tuesday’s election. About 53,570 ballots had been returned by Monday afternoon, meaning about 11% of the county’s roughly 471,000 voters have already turned out for Tuesday’s election.

Another 21,811 voters have not returned their mail ballots yet, leaving little time for those ballots to make it to the county’s elections office before polls close on Tuesday.

Voters who haven’t sent their ballots in the mail by now should return them in-person to one of 11 ballot drop box locations across the county. Mail ballots must be received by the county’s Board of Elections by 8 p.m.; postmarked envelopes that arrive after Election Day will not be counted.

Ballots being returned to drop boxes must be placed into their secrecy envelopes before being sealed in the return mailing envelopes that arrived with the ballot. Date and sign the back of the envelope you place your ballot in.

The county drop boxes are available until 8 p.m. on Tuesday unless otherwise noted at the following locations: 

• Upper Bucks Government Service Center, 261 California Road, Quakertown

• Lower Bucks Government Service Center, 7321 New Falls Road, Levittown

• County Administration Building, 55 E Court Street, Doylestown

• Bensalem Library, 3700 Hulmeville Rd, Bensalem

• Free Library of Northampton Township, 25 Upper Holland Rd, Richboro

• Grundy Memorial Library, 680 Radcliffe St., Bristol; Closes at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays

• New Hope Library, 93 W Ferry St, New Hope; Closes at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays

• Perkasie Library, 491 Arthur Ave, Perkasie

• Riegelsville Library, 615 Easton Rd, Riegelsville; Closes at 5 p.m. on Tuesdays

• Warminster Library, 1076 Emma Ln, Warminster;

• Yardley-Makefield Library, 1080 Edgewood Rd, Yardley

Can I vote at the poll instead of using my requested mail-in ballot?

If you have a mail ballot but decide to vote in person, bring the entire ballot, including the security envelope, to the polls. If you don't have the mail ballot but still show up to the polls to vote in person anyway, you'll be able to cast a provisional ballot. Counting your ballot could be delayed if you cast a provisional ballot until it's determined you didn't also vote by mail.

Voters whose ballots have already been received by the county can’t cast a provisional ballot.

Hulmeville controversy ahead of Election Day

Hulmeville Borough Police Chief John Baran posted on Facebook Monday that a letter sent by Councilman Jim Pio on Friday on borough letterhead to some residents implying that the police endorsed candidates that Pio was campaigning for was not true.

“Councilman Pio was not authorized to send such a letter on Borough letterhead and the statement he made was completely untrue,” the police chief posted.

“The Hulmeville Borough Police Department would like to advise residents that we have not endorsed any current, former or potential candidates in any election. Councilman Pio is ficticiously attempting to show that law enforcement supports him and his candidates despite his harsh, public comments against the police department in the past,” the post continued.

“Residents are asked to not be influenced by the letter sent by Councilman Pio and to make their own educated decisions about who would best represent the residents of Hulmeville Borough.”

Pio’s letter stated that the Bucks County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge PA-53 had endorsed Republican Bucks County Commissioner candidates Gene DiGirolamo and Pamela Van Blunk and that he was joining the police lodge in endorsing five Republicans – the two commissioner candidates and the three Republican candidates for the Council.

The lodge had endorsed the Republican county commissioner candidates. But the police chief stated it was untrue it endorsed the three Republicans in the Hulmeville Council race.

The Republican candidates are John KcKairnes, Rebecca Krause and Doug Edge. Two Democrats are are also running for the seats, incunbent Dan Mandolesi and Jose Gonzalez.

PA candidate election information in Bucks County

Check out our coverage of the election here:

Everything you need to know for Tuesday: Election Day 2023: What you need to know in Bucks County

The battlegrounds at CBSD, Pennridge: Republicans outnumber other voters in Central Bucks, Pennridge ahead of election

A closer look at top County race: What's at stake in Bucks County Commissioners race? Here's what the candidates say

Bensalem eyes EMS raise in tax question: Yes or no? Bensalem voters decide on EMS tax increase on Election Day

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County election results roll in for 2023 election; Dems take CB