Rohanna unofficially defeats Rush by one vote
The Greene County website, co.greene.pa.us, unofficially reported Wednesday afternoon that in the race for county coroner Democrat incumbent Greg Rohanna defeated Republican challenger Gene Rush by one vote in the general election Tuesday, after absentee ballots were tabulated.
Rohanna
Rush
WAYNESBURG — In a stunning turn of events Wednesday, the race for Greene County coroner in the general election Tuesday was decided by one vote, as Democrat incumbent Greg Rohanna unofficially defeated Republican challenger Gene Rush.
The race for county coroner was an exciting one once the results started coming in to the election office after the 44 precincts closed. Rohanna took an early lead and in fact maintained a healthy separation from Rush throughout most of the evening, and with 43 of the county’s 44 precincts reporting, Rohanna was ahead by 163 votes, 3,137 to 2,974.
Then, the votes from Center Township, which just happened to be Rush’s home precinct, came in. The tabulation: Rush 274, Rohanna, 103. That 171-vote difference for Rush erased Rohanna’s 163-vote lead, giving Rush the lead by eight votes, 3,248 to 3,240.
However, victory could not be officially declared, because the elections office reported Tuesday night that there were 228 absentee ballots that needed to be counted.
Wednesday afternoon, the absentee ballots were counted, and with those tabulated the final results showed that Rohanna had received 3,352 votes, while Rush received 3,351.
There were also nine write-in votes, but Tina Kiger, the county’s director of elections, said write-ins would not count toward either candidate because voters could not write in their names.
Kiger said canvassing is expected to begin today, which is the first step toward officially certifying the results of the election. The canvass will not consist of a total vote recount, but the absentee ballots will be re-tallied to make sure the numbers are correct, she explained.
What makes this even more interesting is that Kiger said Wednesday the county has three more ballots that need to be tabulated – two provisional ballots and one more absentee ballot. The elections office has received these ballots and they have not been included in the Wednesday result; rather, they will be tabulated during the canvass.
The results of these ballots, she said, could change the race’s outcome.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in the 22 years I’ve been working in the elections office,” she said.
Kiger said Rush, a retired funeral director from Rogersville, could challenge the results and request a recount.
Rohanna, of Jefferson, has served as coroner since 1994 and previously filled the role of chief deputy coroner dating back to1983.
The other countywide race did not have the drama of the coroner’s race.
Incumbent Democratic Sheriff Brian Tennant easily won his second four-year term by defeating Ed DeBolt of Crucible, 4,608 to 2,065.
“I am honored that the voters of Greene County have trust in me to lead our sheriffs office for four more years,” Tennant said. “Looking forward, I hope to continue to work with our legislators to expand the role of sheriffs in Pennsylvania. I think this is a critical step, particularly in smaller, rural counties like Greene County.”
Tennant, a former Waynesburg Borough police officer, was first elected in 2013.
“I created an activity report, published monthly, to inform the public about what’s going on in the office,” he said. “I have solicited for and received various grants, and thousands of dollars have been brought in to Greene County as a result of these efforts.”
Tennant said he has also worked closely with the public schools in Greene County to institute the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program in all five districts, “to help combat our drug problem through prevention.”
DeBolt campaigned on his military record and his experience working with the state Department of Corrections to “fight the drug epidemic, protect our families and ensure fiscal responsibility in the sheriff’s office.”
The election also saw Dave Balint running unopposed for the Magisterial District Judge seat in Waynesburg, and incumbent Glenn Bates running unopposed for the Magisterial District Judge seat in Franklin Township.
Balint captured both party nominations in the May primary after defeating challenger Owen Coffman, while Bates ran unopposed on both tickets in the May primary.
With the absentees ballots tabulated Wednesday, Balint received 2,103 votes and Bates received 1,888 votes.
Tina Kiger, the county’s director of elections, said the countywide turnout for the Tuesday election – which included the absentee ballots – was roughly 32 percent.
“That was higher than what I thought it was going to be,” she said.
Kiger said no major issues or problems were reported by voters using the county’s touch screen iVotronic voting system at the polling places. The county has been using the iVotronic system since the 2006 primary election.