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Email: "Voters will pick 3 supervisors in 2 separate races"
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The ballot for Logan Township supervisor may look confusing in the Nov. 6 election because three candidates have their names on there more than once. Essentially, it comes down to selecting two six-year supervisors and one four-year supervisor.

“If they like the person, there’s probably no reason why they won’t vote twice for that person,” said Juniata College political science professor Dennis Plane. “That’s kind of an unusual situation ... so it will probably come down to whether people know the name and what their party is.”

The unusual situation crops up partly because Logan Township’s supervisors board in January expands from three to five members.

It also crops up for incumbent candidate Frank Meloy because of the computer software Blair County uses to program the eSlate voting machines. While Meloy won both the Republican and Democrat nominations in the spring primary for one of two six-year seats, the software won’t allow his name to be listed once representing both parties. Instead, it lists Meloy once as a Republican and once as a Democrat.

Voters, however, won’t be able to vote twice for Meloy.

Blair County Elections Director Shirley Crowl said the machine is capable of preventing a second vote for candidates with more than one nomination. Instead, she said the machine will advise the voter that the action is not allowed and offer them a chance to pick another candidate.

Those competing with Meloy for the pair of six-year seats are Democrat David M. Hoover, a retired railroader who initiated the petition drive to expand the supervisors board, Republican Joe Metzgar, a retired auditor who chairs the township planning commission, and Independent candidate George Koeck who filed in the fall to get his name on the ballot.

After finishing their selection of the six-year candidates, voters will move to the four-year contest, where they’ll again see the names of Hoover and Metzgar.

If either wins both, the winner picks which term he serves, and the other position is declared vacant as of Jan. 1, Crowl said.

Filling that vacancy will be a decision for the township supervisors board, consisting of the two winning candidates, Jerry Fulare and James Patterson.

Plane said he doubts voters will split their votes, picking one candidate for the six-year term and a different candidate for the four-year term in an attempt to preserve the voters’ power to decide who fills the seats instead of giving that power to supervisors.

“That would be sophisticated voting, and most voters aren’t that sophisticated,” Plane said. “They look for shortcuts like name recognition or the party.”

In Logan Township, 8,276 voters are registered to vote in November. That includes 4,534 Republicans and 2,860 Democrats. The rest indicate they have no affiliation or they are registered with minor parties.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.

 

 

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