Bob Silver wins two seats in Lansford balloting

All of the municipal voting in Tuesday’s general election balloting in the Panther Valley area was focused on the borough of Lansford, where a mayor’s race and challenges for three borough council seats appeared on the ballot.

The real victor in that balloting was longtime businessman Bob Silver, who won the mayor’s post and was the top vote recipient in the borough council race.

Lansford

A Democrat, Silver defeated Republican Ronald R. Derr Jr. by a vote of 351-140 to win the four-year term as mayor.

In the council race, Silver topped the ballot with 366 votes, defeating four other candidates who aspired to three four-year terms.

The other winners were Democrat Marie Ondrus and Republican Irma J. Leibensperger, who tallied 303 and 256 votes, respectively.

Losing out were council President Martin J. Ditsky, a Republican, and Democrat Joseph Genits. The latter finished in fourth place with 235 votes, followed by Ditsky with 224.

Having been victorious in two races, Silver will have to decide which position he desires by January. The remaining post will be filled by the incoming borough council.

In other Lansford balloting, incumbent tax collector Terrance P. McCall was unopposed Tuesday in pursuit of a four-year term of his own. He was appointed to the post in 2016 upon the retirement of Daniel J. Wynn. A Democrat, McCall appeared on both ballots, having won the Republican nomination in May as well. He garnered 451 votes to easily top the balloting in that community.

Nesquehoning

There was a shortage of candidates in Nesquehoning, but write-in votes will undoubtedly fill vacancies on borough council, where three four-year terms and one two-year term were slated to be decided. The write-in vote totals will be tabulated during the regular canvassing of votes that is scheduled to begin on Friday by the Carbon County Board of Elections.

Meanwhile, Mayor Samuel J. Kitchko, a nonpartisan, and tax collector Patricia R. Vito, a Democrat, were both unopposed and won re-election to four-year terms of office. Kitchko tallied 411 votes while Vito led the way with 491 votes.

In the race for the three four-year terms on council, there were only two candidates on Tuesday’s ballot, those being Democrat Rosemary Porembo and Independent David Hawk, both incumbents. Porembo collected 359 votes while Hawk tallied 316. There were 90 write-in votes that will be studied by the elections bureau to determine the winner of the third seat.

The two-year balloting did not have any candidates on the ballot. Forty-five write-in votes will be tallied to determine that winner.

Summit Hill

There were no contests in Summit Hill. Mayor Paul R. McArdle, a Democrat, won re-election to another four-year term of office with 526 votes as an unopposed candidate.

Kathleen R. Crampsie, another Democrat, will be the town’s new tax collector, winning a four-year term to succeed longtime tax collector Alice R. Kane, who is retiring. Crampsie was unopposed and received 554 complimentary votes.

In balloting for three four-year terms on borough council, there were only three candidates. Re-elected were William J. O’Gurek Jr., who tallied 474 token votes, and William H. Chapman with 409 votes. Both are Democrats. Another Democrat, Deborah Ranck, appeared on both ballots and received 505 complimentary votes.

Panther Valley School Board

In balloting for four four-year terms on the Panther Valley School District Board of Education, there were no contests, as there were only four candidates. Likewise, there was only one candidate for the two-year term on the board.

For the four-year terms, the four candidates were all cross-filed. Topping the ballot was William J. Mansberry Jr. with 1,522 votes; followed by Irene A. Genther with 1,474; Christopher Kerestes, 1,446; and Keith Krapf, 1,358. The vote totals include balloting in Lansford, Nesquehoning and Summit Hill, all in Carbon County, and Coaldale in Schuylkill County.

For the two-year term, Justin Foster was the lone candidate. A Democrat, he received 1,119 votes.

Editor’s Note: The vote totals reported in this story do not necessarily include the results of absentee votes. The county elections bureau reported the vote totals are unofficial and subject to the tabulations of the absentee ballots that were not able to be counted in some races Tuesday night due to technical issues with scanners used to count the absentee ballots.