Teach your students & your children to be a good sportsman & move on Deely.

That's rich. I think the democratic process ensures that every vote is counted. Concede? You've got to be kidding. Corbett's soldier can march himself into the side of a building. He needs to go and so does his boss. Maybe Simmons ought to be a good citizen and make sure everyone's vote is counted.

deely's a teachers union clown. i'll be very upset if he ends up winning.

No one likes a sore loser Mr. Deely. I say, put up or shut up. If you want the recount, then man up and pay the $6,100 to cover the costs yourself. You should have planned ahead for this contingency and it speaks volumes to voters that you did not. In these hard economic times, you clearly have no mandate from your Democratic constituency. Yes, I voted for Mr. Simmons and I doubt very much if he were in your position he'd be asking voters to pony up more money for a recount. I've met him and I've met you. Big Bird says the word of the day is "integrity".

Justin has been a very good representative for the district and for all constituents. He has not and will not pander to just one group, especially dominated by Unions.

What happened to every vote counts? I will contribute to a recount effort. I vote and I want my vote to count! Peter you have convinced me, name calling is bullying and must be stopped on every school playlot. Some day I hope you grow up and become a civil human being!!!

If Mr. Simmons has thoroughly studied the district and arrived at the conclusion that Deely cannot win than why ask for a concession? Respectfully allow the votes to be counted and respect democracy. It's not like the legislature is going to be in session tomorrow. We don't have hanging chads like Florida 2000.

I vote to wait for all ballots to be counted. No need for a rush to judgment!

The arguments coming from the Simmons camp and his followers are just ridiculous. Why not count EVERY vote? Is that not the way of our democracy, even when it's not politically convenient? The people who took the time to fill out absentee ballots deserve their votes to be counted. I don't care if you're a democrat or republican or which candidate you support, we need to value and protect the integrity of our state's democratic process.

I do not believe Representative Simmons is saying do not count the votes. I believe he is saying why waste time and money on a RECOUNT. In 2000 the vote difference in Florida was 537 votes out of 5,963,110 votes cast. Recounting the entire state of Florida they could not find enough votes to change the result. in the 131st District with approximately 28,000 votes cast and a vote differential of 532 votes you are not going to find 533 hidden/uncounted votes for Deely. Mr. Deely is just being a poor loser. He rode the Obama wave of straight party democrat voters in the city of Allentown and got crushed losing by around 20% in the suburbs. This race is over if deely wants to waste his supporters money they should at least know the facts.

Deely probably hit the bong and got a far out idea.

Deely needs to stop wasting time & money, we have work to do !

Paula, is that why Simmons is on his way to Jamaica as we discuss this matter?

Cont: Don't worry Eric, Justin will come back. I understand. I know we need him too.

Justin Simmons has been a terrible representative in Harrisburg for the 131, and I hope that the recount shows that the better man, Kevin Deely, did, in fact, prevail.

Paula, he is an elected official on the tax payers' dime. You don't see a problem with that? You criticize a man who wants the 131 provisional ballots and 1092 absentee ballots counted for wasting time and money, yet you're fine a legislator going on vacation during a legislative session. It really doesn't get any more hypocritical than that. You need to stop acting so childish and start holding both parties accountable and to the same standard.

Should every vote count? A look at PA HD 131 http://t.co/PYrunNEC

Same way I feel about any other private citizen doing--I could care less. Thank you for exemplifying my point about the maturity of the posts you make. You can't address the LEGITIMATE issue I raised, so you try to diverge to a completely irrelevant subject.

There's a lot of bantering and ugliness going on here. I'm not quite understanding the issue. Are there votes that have not been counted? If that's the case, count them. Spending money to REcount ballots that were already counted, is another story. If that's the case, my question is "why?". Seems fairly straight forward.

@Sandy-I agree. If there are votes -count them but without recounting ballots and costing us money. Count and move on. @Eric-I am simply stating to you that if you feel the need to speak unkindly of Mr.Simmons for a vacation (,obviously planned well in advance) , then I too may take issue with the money Deely is spending. There seems to be a double standard here.

Justin Simmons has proven his goal in life is to serve big oil and gas in Pennsylvania. He denies the facts of climate change during an online interview on Patch as monster storms ravage the northeast, and tries to silence those who challenge his uninformed stances during public meetings. He supports the destruction of Pennsylvania's woods and watershed by gas drillers and joins Corbett in offering up our state parks and forests to Exxon, Shell and Anadarko.

Give me a break..count the votes and find out who won...does integrity mean anything...in this country the voters decide...so find out who they chose...would we rather save a buck then know who won an election. God Forbid our elections are honest and accurate

Can we just end this? This is an election for State Rep not the Presidency. We don't need to go any farther. It is clear and evident that State Rep Simmons has won this race and won it by the true electorate that he represents. The majority of the votes that Mr. Deely received were from direct Democrat Party Ticket casting. No one truely voted for this man in this district they were voting for Mr. Obama for the Presidency.If anything we need to really question the intentions of the Democratic Party of Lehigh and Northampton County. Clearly they tried to insert a man with no political skill and no knowledge of politics to run for office. They wanted this win because this win would cause Deely a hardcore Democrat and Bobble Head for his true Supporters (a.k.a. the Unions) into a State Rep seat that will lose the majority of its registried Democratic voters during the next election season do to redistricting. Congratulations State Rep. Simmons another victory accomplished, looking forward to contributing to your next re-election campaign.

Why can't we put politics aside and see that Mr. Deely is just using PA law to make a last chance to see if the voters selected him over Mr. Simmons?

If your favorite NFL team lost on a disputable call at the end of the game, wouldn't you want the replay looked at? Well since no state money is being spent here thats what is going on here. If Mr. Simmons has the most votes in the recount, he'll still win. If Mr. Deely does then the recount was genuinely needed. Why is that so troubling?

Many long term pot smokers never develop maturity or the ability to handle adversity. I'd feel sorry for Deely, but I really don't, as he would steal my money to further the public sector pensions.

Maybe if more people would smoke pot, we'd all get along and have a better attitude with one another. My goodness, how can we expect Washington to work together and get things done when a small community such as ours has such hostility and bitterness towards people we don't even know?

There is also the issue of some missing ballots at one of the church locations. How do ballots just disappear???

This is so ridiculous. Who is to blame for the incompetence surrounding this????? We, the people , did our jobs and voted, now where are the accurate results so everyone can move on. Both men have jobs to do. We are depending on Rep.Simmons to continue his work for us and Mr.Deely is needed too by his students-they depend on him as an educator.

rumor is that the number has now shrunk to a 26 vote difference and there are some missing votes

If there are missing votes...what would it cost to revote for just these two men?

What I find so disturbing is that people feel they need to create fake patch accounts to try and shout people down.

Where are the people in authority who are going to take care of this mess and find a resolution?????????????

Well if there are missing votes then we have a bigger problem than just this race

if Deely wants to spend 6100 dollars to recount why should Simmons complain if he really thinks he won. What can it hurt if we know for sure who won

I hope your children don't hear the language you use. I am disgusted by all of the name calling and nasty remarks! Both of these men want to serve their community. Whether you are for Simmons or Deely, be respectful. The votes should all be counted, because that's the whole purpose of voting... every vote counts! No wonder kids are bullying each other... their community is setting the example.

At this point I'm most concerned that the Person who got the most votes won and nothing illegal has happened and the way Simmons is acting it leads me to question that.

Deely is down by more then 500 votes, with less then 250 votes to count and won't concede... and you think Simmons is the one doing something fishy?

If Deely wants to waste everyone's time and the Teacher Union's money for a recount whatever, but in the end 1+1=2 and 200 < 500

I've heard that the number is actually larger than what is being reported in the media.

what is on the county websites is not up to date

and as we speak the number just dropped

Please tell me where are you getting these accurate updates and what is taking so long for an investigation or a result?

the Leigh county website just updated itself

well there must be some reason people think there are missing absentee ballots such as a report filled out with more ballots than were received

What are the next steps that will be taken and how long until we have a result please?

Election night left state Rep. Justin Simmons looking like a winner but county officials today say the outcome of the 131st House race is not yet certain.

Hundreds of ballots are still to be counted. It's expected to take weeks to finalize the outcome.

"I'd say there are between 750 and 1,000 ballots left to count," said Lehigh County election official Tim Benyo.

A preliminary tally without those ballots shows Simmons with a 562-vote lead. So I don't know where people are getting the number of 200 outstanding

so they have to wait at least 6 days for people to come in and claim their provisional ballots

The is honestly the same game the Republicans played in Florida in 2000

According to Channel 69 Simmons is only ahead by 25 votes before the provisional

doesn't matter how much ahead Simmons is-just that he is.

they won't be finished counting til Tuesday even before there is a recount

May the best man win :)

Right now, Lehigh County has Simmons lead at ONE VOTE. Makes me wonder why anyone would want to rush this. It's going to take some time to get the official number, between provisional and absentee ballots.

I'm hoping that Kevin Deely is our next Rep from PA 131!!!

I'm hoping Justin Simmons. Good luck to both men.

Deely is down by one vote in Lehigh County and only 400 (so far) in Northampton. Looks like voters of the 131st aren't as pleased with Mr. Simmons' performance as you all seem to be. There's nothing wrong with a recount. Simmons won't even be back from his vacation in the Bahamas before it's all over.

The GOP is financed by multi-millionaires and billionaires and the people in office are beholden to them big time. The moneyed few are the ones who don't want anyone whom they can't buy in any government position at any level. President Obama's win over Romney proves that the majority of us do not wish "Big Business" and those who own those "Big Businesses" to continue to buy US Congressmen who in turn force their nefarious ways on the unsuspecting and those of us in the know.

The GOP is financed by multi-millionaires and billionaires and the people in office are beholden to them big time. The moneyed few are the ones who don't want anyone whom they can't buy in any government position at any level. President Obama's win over Romney proves that the majority of us do not wish "Big Business" and those who own those "Big Businesses" to continue to buy US Congressmen who in turn force their nefarious ways on the unsuspecting and those of us in the know.

Two guys saying the exact same thing with brand new accounts? They are most likely two different people, not Karen Beyer.

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