On election night, in November 2005, Lancaster Mayor Charlie Smithgall remarked that Democrats in the city had a 6,000-vote registration edge.

"It's pure numbers," said Smithgall that night.

He had not been able to overcome those numbers and the two-term Republican lost his bid for a third term.

Four years later, the numbers have gotten worse — much worse — for Smithgall.

With the surge of people who registered to vote for President Barack Obama last year, there are nearly 13,000 more Democrats in the city than Republicans.

That's a number Smithgall will have to deal with if he decides to challenge Democrat Rick Gray to a rematch this fall.

This morning, it was again about the numbers. Lancaster County elections officials confirmed with an official count that Smithgall received enough write-in votes on Tuesday to be placed on the November general-election ballot as the Republican nominee.

Smithgall needed 100 votes. He received 135 or more, depending on how they are counted, according to elections officials. There were 96 votes for Charlie Smithgall, 39 for Charles Smithgall and about a dozen other votes for some variation or misspelling of Smithgall's name.

Getting his name on the ballot is not automatic. Smithgall still needs to petition a judge to have all of the write-in variations combined in one official total. And Smithgall would have to file the paperwork and pay a filing fee at the elections office.

That's if he decides to run. Smithgall said this morning that he has not decided. He was awaiting official word from Mary Stehman, the chief clerk of the county Elections Board.

"I'm in wait-and-see mode," said the pharmacist-turned-mayor-turned-pharmacist-again.

"You don't count your chickens before they hatch," he said.

And, if he decides to run, how will he overcome the numerical hurdle of the Democratic advantage?

"If I decide to run, then I'll answer that question. I'm not putting the cart before the horse," he said. "One step at a time."

Smithgall has said he did not orchestrate the write-in effort. It was done by supporters whom he declined to name.

Gray this morning that he would welcome the challenge. Right now, the mayor faces no opposition in his pursuit of a second, four-year term.

A challenger would give his campaign more focus and — hopefully — get the attention of voters. Gray received only 1,100 votes in Tuesday's low-turnout primary election. That number is only about a fifth of the votes he received in the 2005 general election.

"If Mr. Smithgall decides to run, it will give us an even better opportunity to explain all the advances that we've made in the last four years," said Gray, whose administration has been largely free of scandal or controversy.

"I don't think I have to defend my record. I think I could explain what's been going on," Gray said.

There were 227 write-in votes in Lancaster City. Along with the effort to get Smithgall on the ballot, Republican City Council candidate Matthew Holden also asked supporters to write his name on the Democratic ballot.

Holden would have had to receive more than the lowest vote-getter on the Democratic council ballot to be listed as both a Democratic and a Republican in the fall. That would have provided him a defacto win in November.

Holden, however, came nowhere close. There were 75 write-in votes for Matt Holden and another five for Matthew Holden. Newcomer Todd Smith got the least votes of the Democratic slate, with 789.

According to the latest figures, there are 37,944 registered voters in Lancaster City. Of those, 22,129, or 58 percent are Democrats, and 9,173, or 24 percent are Republicans. The remainder claim no party or one of several minor political parties.


Staff writer Bernard Harris can be reached at bharris@LNPnews.com or 481-6022.