Cranberry, Rockland Townships Suing Venango Co. Election Board to Have ‘Crexit’ Petitions Thrown Out

| August 9, 2017

FRANKLIN, Pa. (EYT) – The townships of Cranberry and Rockland are challenging the validity of the “Crexit” petitions accepted by the Venango County Election Board at its July 25 meeting.

A group of residents in Cranberry Township – informally called “Crexit” – petitioned to have a ballot measure for the November election to allow them to leave Cranberry Township and join Rockland Township. The main crux of their wanting to leave Cranberry for Rockland is zoning laws in Cranberry.

The election board certified those petitions on July 25, but now Cranberry and Rockland Townships are asking the Court of Common Pleas in Venango County to reject the petitions because the townships believe they “contain error or defects apparent on the face.”

The lawsuit states three reasons why the townships believe the petitions contain the “errors or defects.”

The first is that the petitions “fail to accurately specify the properties to be transferred and where the new boundary line would be; there is no specified western boundary of the area, and Sandy Creek (which is actually East Sandy Creek) only forms a portion of the southern boundary of Cranberry Township. Thus, it is not clear which properties would be affected by this change.”

The petitions – there were six in all, four from the Cranberry Township precincts and two from the Rockland Township precincts – accepted by the election board asked for a boundary change for “persons living to the south of Route 322 and north of Sandy Creek.” It did not clarify whether that would also include businesses, including Walmart, Home Depot, Wendy’s, McDonald, and others that are all located south of Route 322.

At the time of petitions being accepted, the election board, which consists of Venango County Commissioners Vincent Witherup, Tim Brooks, and Albert “Chip” Abramovic said that the exact wording of the ballot measure would be determined at a future election board meeting and would outline the exact area of Cranberry Township that would be moved to Rockland Township.

The Venango County Commissioners, who make up the Venango County Election Board, from left: Vincent Witherup, Tim Brooks, Albert “Chip” Abramovic

The lawsuit is contending that the petitions should have indicated that already.

The second reason stated in the lawsuit is that the petitions imply that people in the affected area can choose whether or not they wish to be in Rockland or Cranberry Township, which “is obviously an impossibility.”

By Commonwealth law, if a majority of the voters in the affected area vote to leave said area and the majority of voters in the area that would be joined also approve (both areas must agree to the change), then the entire affected area will be moved not just those who voted in favor of the move.

The third reason stated in the lawsuit is that the petitions “are otherwise unclear in specifying the precise question to be placed on the ballot.”

At the July 25 meeting, the election board said that the exact question to be put on the ballot would be determined at another meeting, but the lawsuit indicates that the townships believe that should have been part of the petition itself or done by the election board at the time of accepting the petitions.

The lawsuit said that “these are major deficiencies which cannot be corrected by respondent trying to determine, from the face of the petitions, the properties to which they apply and the precise questions to be placed on the ballot, and, indeed, pursuant to 25 P.S. §2936(b), the board of elections is required to reject a document if ‘it contains material alterations made after signing without the consent of the signers.’”

In the lawsuit, it also states that prior to the lawsuit being filed, a letter dated and delivered August 11 to the election board asking them to reconsider its decision, but the board denied the request.

A hearing on the matter has been scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on Friday, August 11, at the Venango County Courthouse.

A call to Cranberry Township solicitor Bruce Getsinger on Wednesday wasn’t immediately returned.

Richard Winkler, the solicitor for the election board, said he couldn’t comment on an ongoing legal matter.


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