Committee Of Seventy: Election Far From Over

A special message from Philadelphia's watchdog group, the Committee of Seventy:

Tuesday's  Philadelphia election featured few competitive races and, sadly, very few voters. But the outcome of one race has come down to the wire – and will not be determined until city election workers sit down to conduct the official vote count on Monday, November 14 at 9:00 a.m. at 510 North Delaware Avenue.

The unofficial count shows David Oh leading Al Taubenberger by just 165 votes for the seventh and final Republican At-Large seat on City Council. (State Rep. Dennis O’Brien will be the other At-Large Republican.)

Election officials announced Wednesday morning that close to 97 percent of the city’s precincts have reported, but roughly 2,016 absentee, alternative, and emergency ballots – plus an undetermined number of provisional ballots – have not been counted. Seventy will keep a close eye on this race and post updates here while it all unfolds.

David Oh, you may remember, was in a similar situation in 2007, when he lost the final GOP At-Large Council seat to Jack Kelly by 122 votes. This year’s result may be just as close.

Also on the Council front, the race for the next President of City Council is already hot and heavy. Read Seventy's IN THE KNOW: The Biggest City Election Not on Yesterday's Ballot to find out what the job is all about, who wants it, and why it matters to the city.