Who’s on borough council• I don’t know. No, I don’t know is on the township board of supervisors. While it sounds like an Abbott and Costello comedy sketch, the reality is: Voters in many of Armstrong County’s municipalities don’t know who their elected local officials are from election night. Of the county’s 45 municipalities, 17 of those had seats to fill in which no candidates were on the ballot. Those elected offices — more than 30 council, mayor and supervisor seats in all — will be filled by people who received write-in votes, and in some cases as few as one vote. The county’s board of elections has officially counted the write-in votes but has not yet certified the results of the Nov. 6 municipal elections. There were a number of ties in the write-in vote count that have to be broken to declare winners. Election officials will draw lots on Nov. 29 to determine winners in cases of ties. The election office is sending letters to those who received enough write-in votes to win election. The top vote-getters for the number of available seats who accept will win the seats. “They might not want the office and turn it down,” said Melanie Mechling of the county’s elections office. If any of the seats are declined, the elected officials of each municipality can appoint people to fill their boards. The following municipalities are waiting for write-in winners to be announced: Elderton has a long history of having no candidates on the ballot. Write-in votes have decided Elderton elections for several years, and are for the most part, cast for the incumbents. In Elderton, there were three seats on council for four-year terms and two two-year term seats. Write-in winners were incumbent council members John Bowser, Jon Boyer, Karen Popp and Linda Prugh. Newcomer Shane Reddick was the other write-in winner. A total of 36 write-in votes were cast to elect five council members. “Quite a few have been on council for years,” said Elderton Mayor Larry Prugh, the husband of Councilwoman Linda Prugh. “The younger generation doesn’t want to get involved. Nobody wants to run but we have to have a council.” Larry Prugh said the incumbent council members don’t want to run indefinitely and hope someone else will win their seats so they don’t put their names on the ballot. “But when they’re asked, they take the job,” he said. Dayton is much like Elderton in the lack of candidates who appear on the ballot. Dayton had four seats to fill on council. The write-in winners were Robert Olinger, Betty Barnett, Kevin Walls and Tina Walls. Olinger and Walls were re-elected. In Atwood, there were four council seats open. William Holbein was on the ballot and won one of the seats. There were seven write-in votes cast in Atwood. The remaining three seats will be filled from a list of seven people who were tied including Edward Rankin, Faye Parks, Gary Rankin, Gerald Gress, Jim Hankinson, John Kromer and Ken Rearick. For mayor in Atwood, there were five write-in votes with Dean Gress receiving the most votes. In Boggs, Bryan McConnell was the write-in winner for supervisor. Donald Rosenberger was the write-in winner for Burrell supervisor. Ford Cliff had three seats to fill on council. Jason Gaiser was the only one who received write-in votes. Freeport had three seats to fill on council. Ronald Gallagher and Gayle Furer were on the ballot and won election. John Mazurowski received enough write-in votes to win the third seat. In Hovey, Irwin Watts was the write-in winner for the one supervisor seat. In Leechburg, Jim Spiering was on the ballot and won election for one of the two two-year term seats on council. G. Paul Simon received enough write-in votes to win the other seat. Manorville had four seats to fill for four-year terms on council and one seat for a two-year term. Joshua Meyer and Gary Meyer received enough write-in votes to win election. North Apollo had two council seats to fill and the write-in winners were Anita Horneman and Roxanne Crosby. In Perry, James Keegler was the write-in winner for supervisor. David Kammerdiener Jr. was the write-in winner for supervisor in Pine. In Rural Valley, Ed Trudgen won the write-in vote for a seat on council. In South Bend, the write-in winner for supervisor was Kevin Rupert. Barry Rosen and Bert Stewart won the write-in vote for a seat on Worthington Council.

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