Recount of votes cast for the office of district attorney in the November General Municipal Election were canceled Tuesday by Schuylkill County President Judge William E. Baldwin, because the petitioners failed to conform with the election code.

The recount of votes cast for the office of supervisor in Schuylkill Township and for mayor in Mahanoy City were carried out as scheduled and the recounts brought no changes.However, in the district attorney case, Baldwin ruled the petition filed on behalf of the Incumbent District Attorney Karen Byrnes-Noon to recount chiefly absentee ballots was not brought under the proper section of the state election code. The court quashed the petition.The petitioners then moved to set aside the election as being illegal and this motion will be heard on Dec. 10. This is a more difficult action because now the petitioners must prove there was fraud committed or substantial error.District Attorney-Elect Christine Holman, Republican, has been credited by the election board after an official count of the ballots was completed to have received 15,265 votes and Noon, Democrat, 15,192 votes.Both candidates were in court. Holman was represented by a battery of lawyers, including Maria Casey, county solicitor Alvin Marshall, attorney William Burke and Frank Cori. District Attorney Noon was represented by attorney Lawrence Otter.ArgumentsCasey argued on behalf of Holman that the recount petition be quashed because the court is divested of jurisdiction in the absentee ballot recount as requested in the original petition because it did not follow the proper section of the election court. Casey pointed out the code "unequivocally states that a court can cause the recount of the vote counted if three qualified electors of the district shall file."The original petition was signed by three electors, Brian Tobin, Tim Seip, and Jennifer Laughlin to recount all the absentee ballots but the petition did not state to which precinct these petitioners are registered."To recount all the absentee ballots from the 125 precincts in the county then the petition should have listed three petitioners from each of the 125 precincts and it did not," Casey argued.Casey concluded her argument, "The statutory provisions of the election code must be strictly adhered to regarding the requirements that separate petitions be filed for each election district or precinct in which the absentee ballots are challenged. Otherwise, voters from other districts could challenge the results in a district within the commonwealth and this would work mayhem on the electoral system."Otter's argument was that the absentee ballots were counted at an election center and not in the precincts.Frannie Brennan, director of the county election board, testified that when absentee ballots are received at the county election bureau they are placed in a sealed envelope and sent with the voting machines to the precinct the voter was registered. Poll workers receive a list of the names of those who voted by absentee ballot from their precinct in case the voter who voted by absentee ballot should come to vote in the precinct. If this occurs the absentee ballot is voided. When the polling places close the absentee ballots are brought to the election center along with the voting machines where they are run through a scanner/reader machine to be counted.Brennan said there was a minor difficulty experienced in counting about 40 absentee ballots because the scanner wasn't picking up the vote. She said the technician from the voting machine company examined the ballot and then ran them through the Diebold electronic machine, which scans and records the votes cast in the electronic machine, and the vote was counted. Brennan said all votes were counted as marked on the ballots.System accurateThe recount for supervisor and the mayor's office showed not one vote change as the county's electronic voting system proved its accuracy.In the contest for supervisor in Schuylkill Township, Linda A. Decindio, Democrat, lost by one vote and asked for the recount but the recount showed no change. Decindio received 172 ballot votes and 15 absentee votes for 187 votes, while Charles J. Fayash, Republican, received 184 ballot votes and four absentee votes for 188, and is declared the winner. His victory gives the Republicans the majority on the board of supervisors.In the contest for mayor in Mahanoy City, Dennis Weissner, Republican, lost by three votes and asked for a recount.The recount showed no change. Weissner received 450 ballot votes and 22 absentee ballots from the four precincts while Incumbent Mayor Nancy A. Petritsch, Democrat, was re-elected as she received 410 ballot votes and 65 absentee ballots. The absentee ballots carried her to victory with a large number coming from the senior high rise building.