Bradford native Maryanne Cole has announced a last-minute write-in campaign to capture the Democratic nomination for the seat in the 67th district of the state House of Representatives in Tuesday’s primary election.
To do so, she would need 300 write-in votes, according to Dinah Gallegos, McKean County director of elections.
“The minimum write-in requirement would be 300, however, should more than one person acquire 300 write-in votes, the winner would be the candidate with the highest number after the minimum requirement,” Gallegos explained. “That office is monitored by the Department of State.”
Cole, who holds a doctorate from Case Western Reserve University, is the daughter of Casey and Anne Cole.
She returned to Bradford in 2005.
Her candidacy, she said, is the result of a desire to see rural Pennsylvania — and her hometown — returned to the “wonderful, thriving place it once was, where people can raise their families in safety and security — and prosper.”
As a write-in for state House, she said she is an advocate not for special interests but for “each and every person in rural Pennsylvania” and supports such policies as “access to quality healthcare locally, and to quality public education, while keeping taxes low but invested in things that will make a real difference in every citizen’s life.”
She would work for job creation and protecting second amendment rights.
Cole, currently employed at Archbishop Walsh Academy in Olean, N.Y., has taught at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford as well as Florida Southwestern State College, Alfred State College, Arizona State College, and Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nev.
She previously owned the Willows Restaurant in Bradford.
“People want change in government and change begins at the local level,” she said.
She is also seeking a seat on the McKean County Democratic Committee as a committeewoman from Foster Township, District 2.
The 67th House seat is current held by Martin Causer who is on the ballot seeking the Republican nomination. The district includes McKean and Cameron counties and a portion of Potter County.
