Following the November 4th Municipal Election, Northampton County was required to undergo two post-election audits, both of which have officially been completed, according to a press release from the County.
Pennsylvania law requires all counties to perform a statistical recount of a randomly selected 2% or 2,000 of the ballots cast. Northampton County randomly selects four precincts to meet that 2%, running ballots through a scanner to ensure that the results match the initial count. This year, Bethlehem City 14-6, Palmer Middle 1, Freemansburg, and Moore Township Beersville were chosen.
Northampton County was also randomly selected by the Department of State for a Risk-Limiting Audit for the Justice of the Superior Court race. The statewide race reviewed in the audit is also randomly chosen.
During the Risk-Limiting Audit, a random sample of paper ballots are compared to the totals reported by the county’s vote-counting machines to ensure that the outcome is accurate.
This month’s election saw big wins for Democrats in Northampton County and statewide. Democrat Brandon Neuman won the race for Judge of the Superior Court. Democrats also won the Commonwealth Court and Court of Common Pleas races, and three Democratic Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justices were retained in a race that drew national attention. In Northampton County, Democrats took the County Executive seat, and many of the available positions on County and City Councils.
Around 92,000 ballots were cast in Northampton County’s Municipal Election – a 40% voter turnout out of 229,000 registered voters.
Official results from Northampton County’s Municipal Election can be found at norcopa.gov/election-result. The Election Commission Board certified the results at a public meeting on Tuesday.
