The Butler County Bureau of Elections is meeting Wednesday morning, Aug. 19, to count 73 provisional ballots cast in the 12th District of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives special election, where unofficial results show Democrat Brandon Dukes as the winner by 88 votes.

The public was invited to watch the computation board count the provisional ballots and complete the first signing to certify the results at 9 a.m. at the election bureau, 227 W. Cunningham St. in Butler.

Elections bureau director Chantell McCurdy said she was anticipating a larger turnout than usual for the computation board meeting due to increased interest in the special election and narrow vote margin between candidates.

“Every vote matters; this is why we tell people,” McCurdy said Wednesday morning.

She said she didn’t believe the provisional ballots would change the election outcome. The election bureau reported that Dukes received 8,434 votes, and his Republican opponent, Scott Timko, received 8,346 votes, according to unofficial results.

If all 73 provisional ballots went to Timko, his vote count still would not surpass Dukes.’

McCurdy said the computation board usually meets the Friday after the election, but it was moved up to Wednesday due to the interest in the special election.

At the computation meeting, members of the public have the right to object if they feel provisional ballots are being counted unfairly. The board would then make a decision on the objection.

McCurdy said she hopes to have another set of unofficial results submitted Wednesday afternoon with the provisional ballots included. She noted there were also less than five outstanding military ballots.

After the Wednesday computation, the board then completes the first signing to certify the results. Candidates then have five business days to legally challenge the count before the board completes the second signing and certifies the results.

McCurdy said the earliest the results could be certified would be Thursday, Aug. 27, if there are no challenges to the count.

Poll workers reported steady streams of voters coming in throughout the day Tuesday, McCurdy said. Some precincts in Adams and Cranberry townships had already seen around 100 people by 10 a.m.

“We’re very excited about the turnout,” McCurdy said. “I hope they carry that forward for future elections.”

The unofficial election results on Tuesday night indicated 31.90% voter turnout. Of those votes, 11,470 were cast of Election day and 5,355 were submitted by mail.

This was the first special election in the county since Act 77, which expanded the rules for voting by mail, was passed in 2019 and took effect in late April 2020.

The most recent special election for Butler County was in March 2020 — directly before the act was effective. In that election, Rep. Marci Mustello won election to fill former Rep. Brian Ellis’s seat. The one before that was in 2012, McCurdy said.