Incumbent Recorder of Deeds wins reelection, and more results of close races in Centre County
While most municipal election results were clear last week, several races in Centre County were too close to call, including the seat of one county row officer.
Official results will not be certified by the Board of Elections until next week, but a handful of those close races have been determined after provisional and overseas ballots were counted.
That includes Recorder of Deeds, a countywide position that saw the Republican incumbent, Joe Davidson, leading Democrat Robert Zeigler by less than 200 votes on Election Night. With the certified unofficial results on Tuesday, Davidson appears to have won reelection by less than 50 votes.
He claimed victory on his campaign Facebook page.
“Thank you to the county election officials for their hard work in completing the vote-counting process. I am grateful that Centre County voters have entrusted me to serve them for another four years as Recorder of Deeds,” the post stated.
Zeigler also thanked his supporters on Facebook and said although he didn’t win, “there is room for many positive consequences of our campaign.”
“My message was issue focused — advocating for affordable housing, veteran’s services, rural representation, and more. My platform was centered around what I heard from thousands of voters across Centre County. Mr. Davidson did engage in discussing these initiatives, and we can only hope that he will make them a priority in the Recorder of Deeds office over the next four years,” Zeigler wrote.
Below are unofficial results from close races from around the county.
Recorder of Deeds
Robert Zeigler (D): 19,369
Joe Davidson (R): 19,418
Penns Valley School Board (4 at-large seats)
Celesta Powell (D): 1,762
Domer O. Smeltzer (D): 2,090
Nickelaus Engle (D): 1,630
Scott E. Butler (D): 1,919
Dan Hall (R): 2,020
Molly Miller (R): 1,912
Kim Kellerman-Domin (R): 1,959
Michael F. Pase (R): 1,889
Bellefonte Area School Board (5 at-large seats)
Julie Fitzgerald (D): 3,407
Donna Smith (D): 3,478
Paul Dombrowski (D): 3,015
Joe Yech (D): 2,939
Denelle Korin (D): 2,680
Tim Kessling (R): 4,282
Kimberly Weaver (R): 4,381
Patrick Vincent Buck (R): 4,080
Darrell Sharp (R): 3,458
Jennifer N. Barnhart (R): 4,428
Centre Hall Borough Council (4 seats)
Christine Cooper (D): 239
Matt Powell (D): 225
Patrick K. Kelly (D): 224
Luann Yearick (R): 312
Davis V. Araujo (R): 216
Halfmoon Township (2 seats)
Tammy Perkins (D): 619
Patti Hartle (D): 612
Steven Schellberg (R): 594
Rose Ann Hoover (R): 578
Are recounts possible?
The Centre County board of elections is next scheduled to meet on Nov. 21 to certify the official results. Recounts are possible but can be difficult to accomplish. For example, for a recount in a race for a countywide position, the county’s solicitor Betsy Dupuis and Director of Elections Beth Lechman said three registered voters from each precinct in the county (or every precinct they’d want to be counted) would need to petition the court for a recount, and pay $50 per ballot box.
There must also be a valid reason for requesting the recount, such as suspected error.
Molly Miller, a Penns Valley school board candidate who appears to have lost to Scott Butler by seven votes, previously indicated to the CDT that she’d request a recount. She did not immediately respond for comment on Wednesday.
