Two days after polls closed in the runoff election for borough mayor, the winner is still not known.
The borough clerk’s office was still receiving absentee ballots to be counted Thursday, and there is a far above average number of them to be counted.
“At least seventeen hundred,” said Borough Clerk Johni Blankenship.
An updated count from the 28 precincts around the borough Thursday showed Linda Farnsworth-Hutchings picking up an extra three votes, leaving her 223 votes behind Charlie Pierce. Tuesday night, Pierce said such a close race meant one of two things.
“It just tells me that either my base didn’t turn out tonight, or this community is divided on the issues. It’s just a very, very close race.”
Absentee and early voting was up substantially in the first go-round on October 3rd. Blankenship says seeing this many absentee ballots in a runoff isn’t common.
“That number is right at what we would normally have for a regular election. Obviously this regular election does not count as normal, but that number (1,700-plus ballots) is typical for everything around the borough for absentee and questioned.”
And, she says, taking advantage of more flexible voting options is a continuing trend.
“They really prefer to come vote at their convenience and that pattern is holding true.”
The canvass board is set to count the remaining ballots on Friday.