Luzerne County’s five-citizen Election Board is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Thursday to partially certify the April 23 primary election results, minus the Republican race for state representative in the 117th House District, officials said.
The public certification will be held in the council meeting room at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre.
Partial certification is necessary so the approval of other vote tallies is not held up due to pending litigation in the 117th District Republican race, officials said last week.
Three votes separate 117th District Republican contenders Jamie Walsh and incumbent Michael Cabell, with Walsh in the lead, according to unofficial results.
Cabell has a pending appeal in the county Court of Common Pleas seeking the tallying of one provisional ballot and the rejection of another. He also sought tallying of write-ins, although it’s unclear if any were cast for Cabell or Walsh because their names appeared on the ballot.
A three-judge panel set a 4:30 p.m. Tuesday deadline for all legal briefs and responses in the matter and promised a timely ruling. There’s also a window after that ruling for potential appeals to Commonwealth Court.
There is no Democratic primary nominee advancing to the general election in the 117th District race. No Democrats appeared on the ballot, and no write-in winners emerged. A total 270 write-in votes were cast, and an individual would need 300 to secure the party’s nomination and appear on the November ballot.
The Republican race is still too close to call due to the outstanding ballots.
The Lake Township provisional ballot Cabell is seeking to throw out is in a batch of 13 Republican provisional ballots in the 117th District that have not yet been opened for tallying. Officials said they must wait until challenges are adjudicated before processing this entire group.
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
