It’s official: Heller secures second Democratic nomination for county commissioner

LOCK HAVEN, PA – Clinton County’s May 16 election results are now official. The Clinton County Board of Elections on Friday certified the results, a follow-up to the “canvas and computation” carried out by the office of county voter registrar Maria Boileau shortly after the election. Friday’s certification showed no changes from the previous count and confirmed that Joan Heller won the second Democratic nomination for county commissioner.

Heller joins incumbent Angela Harding as the two Democratic candidates for commissioner in November. Harding, as the only candidate on the Democratic ballot, easily advanced to the November election. No one had come forward as a second candidate so Democratic officialdom had advanced Heller as a write-in option, designed to make it more difficult for any Republican to gain that slot, which would have set up the possibility of three Republicans and one Democrat on the November ballot.

The effort proved successful. According to the official count, Heller secured 548 write-ins, well over the 100-vote threshold for a prospective successful candidate, securing the second nomination. No one else approached that 100-vote threshold. That means Harding and Heller will be on the November ballot, along with the two successful Republican candidates, Jim Russo and incumbent Jeff Snyder. The top three vote-getters will be the next set of commissioners, sworn into office next January.

Harding finished with 2,159 votes and Heller with 548. On the Republican side, Russo, a retired businessman, received 2,335 votes and Snyder with 2,219. Clinton County Watchdog principal Michele Whitney and Lock Haven City Council member Doug Byerly trailed, Whitney with 1,671 and Byerly with 1,274; Byerly will be on the ballot in November, seeking another term on city council.

The final “official” results showed there were no outcomes changed from the election night unofficial count.