Pat Sellers, the original "Teabagger"?

On Primary Election Day of 2005 in Coatesville’s Ward 4-2, Pat Sellers stood next to Kurt Schenk wearing a straw hat with tea bags hanging from the rim. Pat Sellers was Kurt Schenk’s campaign manager. Maybe Pat Sellers was the original "Teabagger".

Nancy Hannum and Pat Sellers sat together in animated conversation at a hearing in Chester County Court in 2005 where Bill Chertok was challenging Kurt Schenk’s Democratic write in votes for the May 2005 Primary. The Court decided in Bill Chertok’s favor and Schenk would not be running as a Republican and Democrat in the November 2005 Election.

The hearing contested Kurt Schenk’s Democratic voter “write in” votes (Schenk is a Republican). The Election Day vote was a “tie vote” between Kurt Schenk and Bill Chertok. But was some of the voting done after the Election? At the hearing we discovered that Voter Services was “Administratively Punching” voter’s ballots well after the election. They were punching ballots that may have been written in for a candidate but not punched.

The County Commissioners also serve as the Election Board. No members of the Election Board including Andy Dinniman, the longest serving Commissioner in the history of Chester County, had any idea that Voter Services was changing ballots to reflect what they considered a voter’s intention.

“Administrative Punching” of Ballots was discovered when the votes in Bill Chertok’s election were recounted in the courtroom. If not for Bill Chertok contesting the count we still would not have any knowledge of “administrative punching”