Cunningham elected, Brazil! claims election fraud
By PHILIP CUTIS
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
Although Centre County residents voted to
return state Rep. Gregg L. Cunningham, R
; Centre County, to Harrisburg by giving him
jiabout's3 percent of the vote, the controversy
'surrounding the Democratic candidate has not
' ended.
. Democratic candidate Robert C. Brazill
' yesterday accused State College Democrat of
ficials of election fraud and said he would in
vestigate the possibility of legal action.
But, Cunningham, with all 40 precincts in the
, 77th District reporting, unofficially received
; 13,764 votes or 53.8 percent to 8,275 votes or 32.3
i percent for his closest challenger independent
t Michael G. Day, who was endorsed by the State
* College Democratic Committee last week.
f University student Brazill (Bth-political
- science) finished third with 3,536 votes or 13.8
\ percent. He had lost the support of the area
- Democratic Party in July because of eligibility
!• questions.
> Brazill leveled his charges of election fraud
; against the area Democratic Party, County
; Democratic chairman Daniel Chaffee and State
• College Democratic Party chairman Gregory
i Stewart because, the. local Democratic Party
w s
RESIDENT
‘ Ronald Reagan (R)
! Jimmy Carter <D)
; .John B. Anderson (I)
• Barry Commoner (C >
i Edward Clark (L>
U.S, HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES
; William F. Clinger < R>
Peter Aligan (D>
!, Douglas Mason (C)
; Total Student Registration
i' Total Number Who Voted
Total Student Turnout
Reagan wins nation.
Carter takes campus
By LYNDA ROBINSON
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
While state and Centre County voters
. chose Republican presidential candidate
■Ronald Reagan, University students
♦ favored Democratic President Carter in
Tuesday’s election.
About 39 percent of the students who
voted supported Carter,.while 32 percent
favored Reagan.
Independent presidential candidate
John B. Anderson fared well in several
of the eight student precincts, receiving
*25 percent of the vote. About 2 percent of
the voting students chose Consumer
Party candidate Barry Commoner the
only candidate to campaign on campus.
, analysis
; : Pennsylvania’s 27 electoral votes went
to Reagan after he won SO percent of the
popular vote, compared to Carter’s 39
percent and Anderson’s 6 percent.
In Centre County, Reagan received 49
percent of the vote, while Carter won 39
percent and Anderson made a strong
showing with 12 percent of the popular
vote.
State support for Reagan was
Local results:
Students support Flaherty but Specter wins state
By LYNDA ROBINSON
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
A majority of University students
supported Democratic senatorial
candidate Pete Flaherty in Tuesday’s
general election, but Flaherty’s
opponent, Republican Arlen Specter,
won Centre County and the statewide
election. '
About 51 percent of the students in
the eight student precincts voted for
Flaherty, while 45 percent favored
Specter. Consumer Party candidate
Lee Frissell took 3 percent of the
vote.
All three candidates made ap
pearances in Slate College during
their campaigns.
This was not the first time students
chose a Democratic senatorial
candidate over a Republican. In 1976,
Clinger re-elected to House by substantial margin
By MARK GREEN
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
Republican incumbent William F.
Clinger, R-central Pa., easily
defeated his Democratic and Con
sumer Party opponents in the race
for the 23rd District’s congressional
seat.
Clinger won the election with 73.6
percent of the vote with all precincts
reporting in all 11 counties. Clinger
also swept the eight predominantly
student precincts of State College
garnering 68.4 percent of the vote.
Democratic candidate Peter
Atigan ban second with 24.5 percent
while Consumer Party candidate
Doug Mason received 1.9 percent of
W 202 PATTEE
UDENTS VOTED
»ol' voles
1.871
2 2;j() Arlen Specter (111
l'ele Flaherty ([))
- |.>|) Linda Mohrbacher (SW i
lyi'e Krissell (Ci
David Waller (I,)
STATE HOUSE OF
II .S. SENATE
REPRESENTATIVES
3,378 Gregg L. Cunningham ( Ri
1 ,i;«> Robert C. Brazill < D)
425 Michael G. I)av < 1 1
PARTY KEY
(Ri - REPUBLICAN
i I)i DEMOCRATIC
ai'm (I) - INDEPENDENT
: ‘ (C) -CONSUMER
;r id-libertarian
" (SWI-SOCIALIST WORKERS
strengthened by the defection of
traditionally Democratic blue collar
workers, who were dissatisfied with
Carter’s economic policies and were
attracted by Reagan’s promise to
strengthen the military.
Reagan’s labor support in Penn
sylvania may have been the deciding
factor in the election particularly
when black voters supported Carter in
margins of iO-to-1 throughout most of the
country.
With 99 percent of the precincts ac
counted for, Reagan has won 51 percent
of the popular vote and 483 electoral
votes 270 electoral votes are needed to
become president.
Carter has 41 percent of the popular
vote, but only 49 electoral votes.
Carter’s support among University
students was not nearly as strong in 1976
when he ran against incumbent
Republican Gerald Ford. In ’76 Carter
lost to Ford in the student precincts by
only 97 votes.
. Student dissatisfaction with the
choices in this election seems to be
reflected in the fact that only 63 percent
of registered students voted on Tuesday.
In '76 the. total student turnout was
considerably higher. About 79 percent of
students registered in Centre County
voted in the Ford-Carter election.
students chose Democrat Bill Green
over Republican H. John Heinz.ln
that election, Heinz beat Green
easily.
Student preference for Flaherty
does not reflect the political position
of Centre County residents or the rest
of the state.
In the county, Specter beat
Flaherty by 4 percentage points,
while Consumer Party candidate Lee
Frissell won 2 percent of the vote.
The Specter-Flaherty race was
hotly contested across the state with
Specter finally emerging as the
winner with 51 percent of the vote
compared to 48 percent for Flaherty.
Specter’s victory was influenced by
a number of factors.He waged a
strong media campaign that was
much better funded than Flaherty’s.
the votes,
The Consumer Party reached its
goal of 5 percent of the vote which
Mason said will give the party
automatic ballot access in future
Centre County elections.
Regarding his loss to Clinger,
Mason said, "I would consider it a
victory in the sense that we got the
ballot access.”
However, Jeffrey M. Bowers, a
member of the Centre County Board
of Elections, said it is unclear
whether 5 percent of the vote will
qualify the party for ballot access.
Bowers said the entire question will
be decided in the courts.
Balloi access allows the Consumer
4 copies
allegedly distributed leaflets which stated
Brazill was ineligible to run.
“That was not true, that was never proven,”
Brazill said. “In fact, that is an outright lie to the
voters. This is election fraud.”
He also said he would be investigating the
Democratic Party’s decision to endorse Day.
“I’ll find out what I can do legally about their
backing someone other than the party nominee.
This is a dangerous precedent on whether or not
we are going to accept the primaries as the
voters’choice,” Brazill said.-
Stewart denied the charges, adding that he had
no idea what Brazill was talking about.
“Brazill has argued that we have done some
type of fraud by endorsing Michael Day because
it violates party by-laws,” Stewart said. “But
party by-laws are written by the party, for the
party. We can reinterpret them, rewrite them,
change them.
“So I really have no idea what he is talking
about as far as these accusations of fraud.”
Chaffee said he preferred not to comment on
the charges because the election is over.
Cunningham, now completing his first term in
the House, said his re-election occurred over the
attempts of “various media reporters” to make
abortion the central issue of the campaign. He
of voles
2,423
2.816
26
139
i * t
j t WJ; s+*
A long way up
Yoseinite it isn’t, though these trees at Whipple’s Dam seem tall enough to be before too long adventurous sportsmen may be able to use the lake for ice
redwoods. The beach facilities at the state park have closed for the season, but fishing and ice-skating.
Specter also had the advantage of
running with Republican presidential
candidate Ronald Reagan in a state
where Reagan won easily.
The coattail effect Reagan had on
Republican candidates across the
country was instrumental in creating
the first Republican-controlled
Senate since the beginning of World
Warll.
Republicans took a totally unex
pected 10 seats away from incumbent
Democratic senators.
Specter’s win over Flaherty,, a
popular former mayor of Pittsburgh,
signifies strengthening Republican
control in Pennsylvania and the
possibility that regional-based state
politics is beginning to cool down in a
state where location often means
more than the issues.
Party to run candidates in county
elections without going through the
process of petitioning to get on the
ballot. This would mean the party
could introduce candidates through
the same process as the Republican
and Democratic parties.
Also, registration cards will bear
the words “Consumer Party"- rather
than “other party” as they did in this
election.
"That reinforces our image as a
party," Mason said.
He said the party will definitely run
a candidate in the 1981 Municipal
Council election. Mason, however,
said he is uncerlajn as to his political
future.
also praised Brazill and Day for an issue
oriented campaign with many opportunities to
debate.
“Some reporters felt so passionately about the
issue that they did everything in their powers to
cooperate with one of my opponent’s efforts to
make it the central issue,” Cunningham said.
Centre County residents refused to listen to the
reporters, Cunningham said, but rather “took a
holistic view of the range of issues confronting
them in a given race.”
Cunningham attributed his victory to his
legislative record and said the large win by
President-elect Ronald Reagan did not have
much to do with his victory.
“Obviously any time the candidate at the top of
the ticket does extremely well, there is an im
pact that is felt down the ticket,” he said. “But
when the margin of victory is as decisive as it
was in our race, it is certainly not accurate to
characterize this as a coattail victory.”
However, Day, while acknowledging defeat,
said he thought he was one of the victims of
Reagan’s coattails because of the large number
of straight-party votes in Centre County. He also
said Brazill’s candidacy hurt his chances.
“Brazill’s having the party’s nomination cut
into my vote a good bit,” Day said. “But even if
--Collegian
V01.81.N0.74 16 pages
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Thornburgh claims win
for Republicans in Pa.
HARRISBURG (AP) He wasn’t on any ballot, but
Republican Gov. Dick Thornburgh was certainly claiming
victory yesterday morning as he surveyed the gains made by
his party in Pennsylvania.
“I think it was a magnificent day for the Republican Party,”
a beaming Thornburgh said as he posed with the state’s at
torney general-elect, Leßoy Zimmerman.
In addition to Zimmerman’s win, the GOP won the contested
U.S. Senate seat and the state treasurer’s office. It widened the
Republican’s margin in the state House and wrested control of
the Senate from the Democrats by gaining a 25-25 tie in that
body.
Lt. Gov. William Scranton will cast the deciding Republican
vote in the Senate.
“In Pennsylvania, the results were beyond our wildest ex
pectations,” Thornburgh said.
Thornburgh arrived at the press conference believing state
Treasurer Bob Casey, a Democrat, had defeated Republican
candidate Budd Dwyer. But reporters told him that the picture
had changed and that Dwyer had won.
“That’s the icing on the cake,” Thornburgh said. “That only
leaves the last of the Mohicans the auditor general.”
The governor was referring to the only Democrat to prevail,
Auditor General A 1 Benedict, who handed Republican can
didate state Rep. Jim Knepper a 100,000-vote defeat.
Dwyer, a Republican senator, will leave the GOP one vote
shy of a tie in the Senate when he takes the treasurer’s job Jan.
20. Republicans and Democrats have about equal strength in
his district and a special election to fill his seat could be a hard
fought one.
Thornburgh said Tuesday’s results were the first step
toward a “decade of Republicanism.” He said the election
results would help him move important programs through the
General Assembly.
Specifically, he mentioned his SWAP plan, to increase state
revenues by changing the current 11-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax
to a combination of a flat surcharge and a sales tax.
"My first priority will be to discuss with the leaders of our
party in both houses what our agenda should be,” he said.
The attorney general’s race featured Zimmerman, a former
Dauphin County district attorney, and O’Pake, a 12-year
veteran of the state Legislature.
we got all of Bob’s vote we couldn’t have possibly
matched the turnout the Republicans showed.
"When we came away from the polls realizing
that there was a record turnout, we were op
timistic,” he said. “We thought that con
ventional wisdom would indicate that if there
were a great number of people at the polls the
Democrats would gain from that.”
Day said he had expected to do better in the
student precincts. He received a total of 2,090
votes from the eight State College student
precincts East 1, East 2, East 3, East 4, East
Central 1, East Central 2, East Central 3 and
West Central 1. Cunningham got 2,309 votes in
the same precincts.
Cunningham.said he “was delighted with the
large student turnout.”
“We were quite pleased to see that (a large
turnout). We knew we would do well with the
students, and I’m very pleased with the showing
we made with students.”
Student precincts showed higher tallies for
Day then the rest of the county. Day’s best
showing was in the State College area while
Brazill pulled ahead in the rural areas.
In student precinct State College East 3 with
469 registered Democrats, Day finished first
with 301 votes or 53 percent of the vole. Cun-
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"I'm very pleased and very proud of (he confidence ex
pressed in me by the people of Pennsylvania,’’ said Zim
merman, who touted his experience as a prosecutor in a
carefully planned campaign. •
"We did the best we could. But the Reagan landslide and the
very heavy Republican money were just too much to over
come,” said O’Pake, a Berks County lawmaker.
Benedict, the de facto head of the Democratic Party and the
state’s fiscal watchdog, emerged as the majority party’s only
winner. And he survived charges by Knepper that he liar:
bloated his payroll with hacks and cronies.
Benedict said the voters apparently "discounted all of the
nasty and distorted allegations made against me. They ac
cused me of everything but child molesting. The Republican
organization really keyed on me.”
In beating Casey, Dwyer keyed his campaign against wha!
he called an imposter. The 71-year-old Casey, an obscure
Cambria County politician, swept into office four years ago
with a shoestring campaign budget.
Voters apparently confused him with Robert P. Casey, the
popular former auditor general.
In the auditor general race, incumbent Auditor General A 1
Benedict survived the GOP stampede, holding off the
challenge of state Rep. James Knepper.
With 99 percent of the ballots counted, Dwyer had 2,047,772
votes to Casey’s 1,986,421. Benedict out-distanced Knepper
2,052,821 to 1,953,198.
The Associated Press had reported incorrectly yesterday
morning that Casey defeated Dwyer by a slim margin.
However, a 96,731 vote error in Casey’s Lebanon County total
was later discovered..
There should be a good deal of cloudiness again today along
with breezy and chilly conditions. The afternoon high tem
perature will be 48. Partly cloudy and cold tonight with a low of
34. Variable cloudiness and a bit milder on Friday with a high
of 52. Rather cloudy on Saturday, breezy and cool with a high
of 47.
ningham claimed 211 votes of 474 registered
Republicans or 37 percent of the vote in the
precinct.
However, in student district East 1, Cun
ningham defeated Day.
He received 411 votes from 537 registered
Republicans or 52 percent of the vote, while Day
received 205 votes of the Democratic registration
of 432 or 26 percent of the vote.
Brazil] lost his party's support because of
questions raised about his eligibility to serve as a
state representative. Regarding the election he
said Cunningham is the candidate “who got the
public’s choice.”
According to the Pennsylvania Constitution,
representatives must be residents of the state for
four years before their election. Brazill,
however, lived and registered to vote in New
Jersey in 1977.
Brazill's continued candidacy hurt Day despite
the controversy over eligibility, Day said.
“Besides the fact that he took away the
straight party vote, it meant that there was
something besides the issues that the voters
could spend their time on,” he said. “We had to
waste our time warning people about Bob
Brazill.”
University Park, Pa. 16802
Published by Students of The Pennsylvania State University
Still a chill
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Rich DiSammartino
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