Lancaster County elections officials completed their official canvassing of votes in the race for Lancaster Township supervisor this morning, and though they found four votes that had not been previously counted, the discovery did not change the outcome of the race. Democrat Ben Bamford picked up two of those votes, bringing his total to 1,190, and Republican Tony Allen picked up two as well, bringing his total to 1,179. The 11-vote margin of victory for Bamford, which toppled the Republican majority on the three-member board and makes Lancaster the first township with a municipal board ruled by Democrats, will stand barring a challenge from Allen.

However.

Yes, there is a “but.” Allen and party observer Immo Sulyok, both of whom attended the canvass this morning at 150 N. Queen St., expressed concern over the lack of a signature from an inspector of elections in the township’s 3rd District. Allen and Sulyok did not allege any fraud, but said that the finding raises questions, namely: Is that inspector the majority or minority inspector, and why did he/she not sign the election results in the district? Where is the inspector’s copy of the returns? Did the inspector of elections there simply forget, or did he/she disagree with the results? Mary Stehman, the county’s top elections official, was looking into the matter this morning. Allen won in that district by six votes, 88-82.

“It’s troubling because returns aren’t valid unless they are signed by the entire board of elections,” Sulyok said. The board includes the district judges of elections and two inspectors.

Also, as we mentioned before, Allen and Sulyok will manually review each vote beginning at 9 a.m. Friday. The Board of Elections agreed to the hand recount after receiving a petition from 27 registered voters in Lancaster Township.”No one has visually looked at the ballots,” Allen said after the canvassing this morning. “They’ve just been electronically scanned. We will be allowed to inspect them and know voter intent.”

Stay tuned.