Crawford Central School Board sees two of three incumbents reelected

Nov. 9—Two incumbents apparently have been reelected to Crawford Central School Board while a third seeking reelection has not, according to unofficial vote totals.

Nine candidates were running for one of five four-year seats and another two candidates for a two-year seat on Crawford Central's board.

The numbers below are unofficial with all 17 precincts reporting — 16 in Crawford County and one in Mercer County.

Unofficial vote totals for the five four-year seats are: Kevin G. Merritt, 4,360; Jeff Rose, 3,779; Monica Hargenrater, 3,564; Ed DeVore, 3,526; Ron Irwin, 3,507; Lisa Whitenack, 3,066; Shanna Hodgson, 2,910; Wallace G. Mason II, 2,864; and Bonnie Murphy, 2,656. Crawford County also listed 62 write-in votes in the race and Mercer County listed three write-in votes.

Merritt and Rose are incumbent board members.

Merritt was the only candidate to win both a Republican and a Democratic party nomination in the May primary for a four-year seat. Rose, Hargenrater, DeVore and Irwin only won Republican Party nominations while Whitenack, Hodgson, Mason and Murphy only won Democratic Party nominations.

In the race for the lone two-year seat, Tammy Silvis beat out Melissa Burnett, an incumbent board member.

Unofficial vote totals for the two-year seat, with all 17 precincts reporting, are: Silvis, 3,837, and Burnett, 3,172. Crawford County listed six write-in votes in the race and Mercer County listed none.

Burnett had won only the Democratic Party nomination in the primary while Silvis had won only the Republican nomination in the primary.

Final unofficial numbers are subject to change as the results do not include any hand-counted ballots such as military and overseas ballots, emergency and provisional ballots, or any ballot that would not scan properly, according to Christopher Soff, chairman of the Crawford County Board of Elections.

Keith Gushard can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at kgushard@meadvilletribune.com.