Mitchell retains lead to secure Republican nomination in Luzerne County Council race

Luzerne County Councilman Matthew Mitchell kept his primary election Republican nomination when votes from additional ballots were uploaded this morning, the unofficial results show.

Vote tallies from at least 280 ballots the county election board accepted during adjudication were added to the results, officials said.

On election night, Mitchell was poised to receive the sixth available Republican nomination slot in the county council race, but Gregory W. Griffin trailed behind him with 157 fewer votes. The results that evening were 7,489 votes for Mitchell and 7,332 for Griffin.

Today’s upload brought the tally to 7,529 votes for Mitchell and 7,372 for Griffin, which still puts Mitchell ahead by 157 votes and means Mitchell will receive the nomination.

These unofficial results are not expected to change before the certification because the election board has completed its adjudication of provisional, flagged mail ballots and paper ballots with issues at the polls. The board is now processing write-in votes in races that had no candidates on the ballot.

Mitchell said he has been closely following the results since last week’s primary.

“After seeing the latest tally, I would like to say that I’m deeply honored and humbled to have earned a position on the general election ballot,” Mitchell said. “I’m grateful to each of my supporters who took the time to cast their votes and participate in the electoral process. I’m looking forward to the general election in November and sincerely hope that I’ll be able to continue to serve the people of Luzerne County.”

Another close race was the Democratic nomination for Hazleton city mayor. As it was left on election night, candidate Vianney Castro was ahead by 17 votes, receiving 462 votes compared to 445 for opponent Robert Yevak.

Today’s update reduced the gap to 11, with Castro still in the lead. Castro received 465 votes, compared to 454 for Yevak.

The updated results are posted in the election database on the main page at luzernecounty.org.

With today’s update, here are the county council vote tallies in the county council race, with those securing nominations in bold: Joanna Bryn Smith (D), 14,024; Patricia Krushnowski (D), 13,368; Brittany Stephenson (D), 13,032; Michelle Rothenbecker (D), 12,881; Jimmy Sabatino (D), 12,585; Maryann Velez (D), 12,411; Stephen J. Urban (R), 9,904; LeeAnn McDermott (R), 9,559; Harry Haas (R), 8,734; Damon Saxon (D), 8,543; Thomas Dombroski (R), 8,024; Kimberly Platek (R), 8,005; Mitchell (R), 7,529; Griffin (R), 7,372; Anthony Corrado (R), 6,859; Carl Bienias III (R), 6,373; Richard Tihansky (R), 5,715; Ronald D. Knapp (R), 4,870; and Vivian Kreidler-Licina (R), 4,316

The six Democrats and six Republicans will advance to the November general election, when all voters will be free to select six county council contenders of any affiliation.