Local voters may have sent a message last Tuesday, but I'll be darned if I can figure out what it was.

We definitely saw a bit of the Republican backlash that occurred across the country, but then how do you explain the vote in Ben Avon? Three Democratic incumbents were tossed out of office, but one of the top vote-getters was a 19-year-old Democrat.

It may have been Republican backlash or just pure insanity that resulted in former Bellevue Council member Jerry Walter getting 117 votes in Bellevue's third ward. The guy has resigned from council twice -- with the last finally sticking -- and was on the ballot only because he never bothered to take his name off. A viable Republican write-in candidate was pretty much ignored. I don't even want to think what message that may be sending about voters.

Two Democrats were easily elected to council in Bellevue's second ward, while voters in the first ward picked two incumbents, one a Democrat and one a Republican.

The only commonality I can find among the winners and many of the losers is that the winners worked hard on their election campaigns, while a notable number of losers did little to nothing. If there's one thing voters around here like, it's for someone to respect them enough to work for their votes.