As the old saying goes, every vote matters.

A count by the Butler County Bureau of Elections of more than 8,000 write-in votes cast in the May 16 primary will alter the look of the ballot in many Butler County municipal elections this November.

The bureau’s computation board counted votes from 157 primary races Friday to resolve lawsuits filed by two township supervisor candidates who suspected they received enough write-in votes to win political party nominations for the general election.

The suits were filed by David J. McMaster, a Republican candidate for Middlesex Township supervisor, and Rinaldo Zampogna III, an incumbent Democratic Buffalo Township supervisor.

Both suits sought a court order to force the election bureau to count write-in votes cast in the primary races.

The attorney representing the plaintiff in one of the suits cited a 1946 state Superior Court ruling in his filing.

“The law of Pennsylvania has been clear for at least 77 years. Votes cast in a primary election for any person, regardless of party affiliation, will be counted," the suit claimed.

Election board solicitor Chris Furman said the computation board decided not to count write-in votes in races in which candidates cannot cross-file to run for both party nominations.

McMaster lost the Republican primary to incumbent Robert Brash, but received enough write-in votes from Democratic voters to appear on the Democratic ballot in a November rematch with Brash for one open supervisor position.

The write-in count also affected supervisor races in seven townships, council races in 12 boroughs and a city council race in Butler.

Our nation is built on a democracy based on the voice of the people. Every vote should count, and the count by the computation board reaffirmed that. It’s regrettable that two candidates had to file lawsuits to ensure fair and accurate election results.

“My name will be in the general election on the Democratic ticket,” McMaster said Tuesday. “I felt bad it had to go this far, but I knew it wasn’t correct the way it was done.”

– JGG