HAZLETON - Luzerne County screwed up May's primary election for Hazleton Area school board, all sides agree.
How to fix the mess, if possible, is where the parties involved disagree and is an issue two Luzerne County judges will decide.
The judges heard testimony Thursday at a hearing regarding the flawed primary election in the Hazleton Area School District, which sits mainly in Luzerne County but also encompasses a few towns in Carbon and Schuylkill counties. A candidate who withdrew from the election appeared on the ballot in Carbon and Schuylkill counties and received hundreds of votes.
Attorney Bill Vinsko, representing 25 voters and a losing candidate, argued the results should be thrown out and a revote should be held in those two counties.
County solicitor David Pedri suggested a new absentee ballot election be held at the county's expense.
"Luzerne County has a significant interest in making sure this is a fair election," Pedri said.
Jared O'Donnell, 21, who finished in the top four on the Democratic and Republican ballots, told the judges it would be illegal to hold a new election and the results should stand.
One losing candidate, Tom Chirico, 58, told the judges it wasn't fair to let voters in the two other counties vote when the lion's share of the vote from Luzerne County would stay intact since the ballot in Luzerne County was correct. He said people who voted for losing candidates would change their votes to affect the election, thus changing how they really wanted to vote on election day. He suggested to let the results stand or have everyone's name appear on the ballot again in the General Election.
"How do you expect people who voted for me to keep those same votes?" said Chirico, who finished in last place.
As the results currently stand, only 13 votes separate the fourth and fifth place finishers on the Democratic side and only 35 votes on the Republican side.
Of the 1,942 votes cast in Carbon and Schuylkill counties, Steve Hahn received 274 Democratic votes and 279 Republican votes.
O'Donnell argued that voters, who had the chance to select four nominees, knew who they were voting for and said there was no evidence they would have voted for anyone else if Hahn's name were not on the ballot. The votes for Hahn could be seen as similar to write-in votes, he said.
"There clearly was enough choice," he said.
Vinsko noted he waived his attorneys fees "to do what's right for the public."
Pedri said it would cost the county about $2,300 if the court accepts its plan to mail absentee ballots to voters in Carbon and Schuylkill counties. He noted the deadline to certify the ballot for the fall election is Aug. 12, so a remedy needs to be quick.
"Time is of the essence," he said.
Luzerne County President Judge Thomas F. Burke Jr. and Judge Michael Vough took the matter under advisement and will make a ruling in the future.
