Ninety-four voters came out in the township Tuesday, with nearly 55 percent voting in favor of the home rule charter and nearly 45 percent voting against it.

There was a 26 vote difference, according to the Elk County’s unofficial general election results.

As a result of Tuesday’s vote the Home Rule Charter will replace the Pennsylvania Second Class Township Code.

Despite a lawsuit hanging in limbo in Elk County Court between the township supervisors, Elk County Board of Elections and township’s home rule study commission, voters turned out to cast their ballots not only for president and other key federal and state offices but also on how they should be governed.

Attorneys from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, represented from the citizen elected government study commission, called the lawsuit “a Hail Mary pass by the supervisors on an action that would hinder their power.”

Meanwhile, Highland Township solicitor Timothy Bevevino has argued the validity of the study commission due to the number of members on its board, as well as one member’s criminal background, calling it a “quasi-elected body.”

When asked earlier this month if the question would be on the ballot and how it would proceed, Elk County election director Kim Frey said the question would go on the ballot unless she was otherwise instructed by the judge.

She wasn’t and the question went to ballot.

In 2013, Highland Township supervisors Jim Wolfe, Paul Burton and Joe Milstead voted in favor of a controversial Bill of Rights ordinance, which banned injection wells, particularly the one planned by Seneca, after many residents brought forth concerns about environmental issues associated with the well, including its proximity of one-half mile from the township’s watershed.

One year later, the Environmental Protection Agency approved Seneca’s application to operate a deep injection well in Highland Township – despite the ordinance – leading it to be embroiled in a federal lawsuit about its ordinance’s power and validity.

As the makeup of the supervisor board has changed, so has its commitment to battling the disposal injection well.

In August of this year, the supervisors overturned the ordinance, calling it “unconstitutional.”

They added that a similar case in Grant Township in Indiana County was thrown out by the judge, insinuating that the overturn of their ordinance was inevitable.

Likely sensing the possible shift, voters came out and elected a government study commission which began drafting a home rule charter in April.

Many would like to see more than three supervisors on the ruling board, while also providing citizens the right to petition to vote by referendum on issues which are important to their township.

In past interviews, the commission’s chairman John Guras said the cornerstone of that charter is a Bill of Rights which allows the citizens to challenge their leaders by allowing them the possibility of overturning certain decisions made by filling out a petition to take them to ballot.

“I wasn’t involved in politics prior to this,” Guras said. “But I understand that this will give people a voice to develop and amend their form of government, which they don’t have now.”