DuPuis, MacPherson to square off again in Nov. Region A race; Murphy appears to have won both nods, while Trigg, Jones will likely face Lindner and Do in Nov.
By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com
It looks like the voters of the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District may find themselves with a lot more choices on the ballot in November than they had for Tuesday’s primary election.
While it was probably not a shock that Region A (East Marlborough and West Marlborough) candidates Robert MacPherson and Victor DuPuis split — DuPuis, a Republican winning the Democratic nomination, and MacPherson, a Democrat, winning the GOP nod — it appears, at least from preliminary numbers that write-in challengers Kathleen Do and Gregg Lindner managed to win the Democratic nomination for Region C (Chadds Ford and Pennsbury), holding off Timotha Trigg and Sharon Jones. Jones and Trigg won the Republican nomination easily.
Frank Murphy appears to have narrowly won the Democratic nod and cruised to an easy win for the GOP — meaning he can only face write-in or independent competition in the November elections.
While it may be a few days before we know the final numbers from Chester County Voter Services and the Delaware County Board of Elections — and none of the races have been certified — based on the volume of write-in numbers, it appears that Do and Lindner won the Democratic nomination by a healthy margin. In Pennsbury, Murphy, Jones and Trigg, all registered Republicans, maxed out at 48 votes, Murphy got 48, Jones , 46 and Trigg 45. The write-ins, thought to be mostly for Lindner and Do, totaled 363. In Chadds Ford, the numbers tell a similar story, although less dramatically so: Trigg was the top vote getter with 23, with Murphy and Jones getting 22 each, while there were 119 write-in votes — again, though to be largely for Lindner and Do.
While the net result of the Region A race wasn’t a surprise — with DuPuis and MacPherson heading toward a rematch in November — some may have been surprised how close DuPuis came to sweeping: MacPherson won the GOP nod by just six votes, 329 to 323. DuPuis had a much easier time on the Democratic side, winning 214 to 121.
In other local races, Carol Haaf held off a late write-in challenge from Ricki Stumpo for Pocopson’s Democratic nomination for Township Supervisor. The GOP race is more muddied: there was no candidate on the ballot, but both Stumpo and Steven Simonson, a member of township Planning Commission were seeking write-in votes for the Republican nod, with 173 write-in votes cast. Simonson did have the support of the township GOP over Stumpo, a Democrat, but the final results will probably not be known until later this week.
Setting up what will be one of the few contested races this fall, in East Marlborough incumbent supervisors Eddie Caudill and Robert Weer cruised to easy wins for the Republican nomination for supervisor. They’ll face off against Democrat Julia McGovern Lacy who won the Democratic nod. Two seats on the township Board of Supervisors are up for election this fall.
In Pennsbury, incumbent supervisor Wendell Fenton won the Republican nomination for Township Supervisor. While there was no other candidate on the ballot, there were about 20 write-in votes cast for the Democratic nomination, so the possibility exists that Fenton could face competition in November.
West Marlborough may have anywhere from none to two for township supervisor this fall. It seems likely that 41 write-in votes cast on the Republican side should yield the minimum — 10 — needed to appear on the November ballot, only 10 votes were cast on the Democratic side, making a candidate less likely on that side.
In Birmingham, Chadds Ford and Newlin, the races appear to be settled. In Birmingham, incumbent supervisor John Conklin garnered 224 votes for the GOP nomination, while there were only two write-in votes on the Democratic side. In Newlin, incumbent supervisor Robert Pearson won the Republican nomination with 77 votes, while there were just 3 write-in votes on the Democratic side. In Chadds Ford, Keith Klaver — seeking his first term on the board of supervisors — got 202 votes and the Republican nomination for supervisor.
All three will be the only candidates for supervisor unless an independent files to run later this year.
In the countywide elections, there were few surprises as both the Republican and Democratic slates emerged unscathed and will head to the November general election. Three local county-wide candidates won nomination: incumbent Sheriff Carolyn “Bunny” Welsh of Pennsbury again won the Republican nomination for sheriff, while Pocopson’s Dan Tyman won the Democratic nomination for Register of Wills and Birmingham Democrat Fredda Maddox won the Democratic nomination for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas.
Cross registration should be ILLEGAL!!!
BTW – Whoever comes out & says PARKER is History, gets my vote!!!
Well…apparently, then you would vote for Ms. Parker then. She, to put it in your quaint term, decided she was “history” (ironic, since as I recall, she was an English teacher before moving in administration) and expects to retire by Aug 31.
Cross registration was enacted to reduce the partisan influence in school and judicial elections. Most other states have completely non-partisan elections for school board. Some states have entirely different election days — in New Jersey people vote for school board in April at the same time as the public referendum on the budget. There are some proposed legislative efforts to move Pennsylvania to non-partisan school elections.
It’s great news (and a surprise) to see the voter enthusiasm generated by the write-in campaign (Lindner and Do). Locally we need to let voters know that they can make a signifigant difference in our community. It’s a nice change from voter apathy that allows an entrenced group of people to easily win important local school board positions! Thank you for the article.