DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. — The saying goes, "Every vote counts."
Often times, we laugh it off, like it's a joke.
However, one of those "jokes" between a husband and wife has landed a man with a seat as an elected official in Lower Paxton Township.
Avi Hameroff, and his wife, Lindsay, said that Avi had always wanted to be politically active, and when their mail-in ballot only had one person running for the position of Inspector of Elections, the Hameroffs, never thinking Avi would win, wrote his name in the blank space.
On Nov. 30, Avi Hameroff received a letter informing him that he had won the election for Minority Inspector of Elections in Lower Paxton Township. The position is considered "minority" because the winner garnered the second-most votes.
Two votes was all it took to win.
Lindsay publicized the news in a tweet that went viral:
Dauphin County's Elections Director, Jerry Feaser, says for every person who accepts a write-in victory in an election, there are stacks of rejections.
Feaser says the rejections can stem from people who either didn't know they had been wrote-in or someone had done it as a joke.
However, with a little training, Avi Hameroff plans to be Lower Paxton Township's newest Minority Inspector of Elections.
He will help oversee election days in his precinct, check-in voters, and help with provisional ballots.
Hameroff will serve a four year term. He will earn a $140-per-Election Day stipend, plus $20 for attending a training session.
The money, he says, is irrelevant. Ultimately, it's a reminder that any of us can serve -- and that's no joke.