Less than a month ago the race, or non-race, for a seat on the Upper Perkiomen School Board had two incumbents running for re-election.  School Board members Raeann Hofkin and Mike Elliott both cross-filed to retain their spots on the board.  However, there were five open positions to be filled.

        A front page story in the April 30 edition of the Town and Country delivered the news that there were no additional candidates listed for the official ballot for the May 19 primary.  In the story concerns were expressed by some incumbents and officials whose terms are not expiring.  In contrast, there were words of encouragement for serving on school board for those who are running for re-election.

        The plight of the preliminary election process for school board member in the Upper Perkiomen School District struck several individuals and some even stepped forward to announce their "write-in" candidacy in the Town and Country's Voters Guide published on May 14. 

        The district spans two counties and the election boards of each have presented their results.  According to the Berks and Montgomery county websites, the results are final.

        In addition to Hofkin and Elliott, November's general election will see former school board members Joan Smith and John Farris names on the ballot on both the Democratic and Republican tickets.  According to the results, Smith topped the Democratic side with 171 write-in votes (158 in Montgomery County and 13 in Berks County) to Farris' 142 (128 in Montgomery County and 14 in Berks County).  On the Republican side, Farris was tops with 227 write-in votes (202 in Montgomery County and 25 in Berks County) to Smith's 140 (127 in Montgomery County and 13 in Berks County).  Smith and Farris both live in Marlborough Township.

        For the fifth spot on the ticket, Democratic write-in voters gave Upper Hanover Township resident Kim Baccari the nod with 76 votes (67 in Montgomery County and 9 in Berks County). 

        The race on the Republican side was much closer with Baccari edging out Pennsburg resident John Mansfield 139 (126 in Montgomery County and 13 in Berks County) to 132 (129 in Montgomery County and 3 in Berks County). 

        According to preliminary figures for both counties, more than 1,000 write-in votes were cast in May for candidates for the Upper Perkiomen School Board.

        In the race for three borough council seats in East Greenville, Democrat Doug Criddle ran unopposed along with Republicans Marita Thomson and Robert McCluskie.  With the write-in votes counted, former council member Keith Gerhart (30 votes) and incumbent James Young (18 votes) will round out the November general election as candidates on the Democratic side.  Young also collected enough write-in votes (24) to run on the Republican ticket as well. 

        In Upper Hanover Township, where Republican incumbents Gene Fried and Ben Fiorito won the Republican primary race over Herb Butz, 35 write-in votes could put Butz back in the race on the Democratic ticket in November.  Fiorito nabbed 23 write-in votes to add him to the Democratic ticket as well.