Nominations are decided in Summit Hill contests

Two contested races were decided among the Carbon County municipalities in the Panther Valley area on Tuesday.

Both in Summit Hill, they included races for Democratic nominations for one two-year and four four-year terms on the Summit Hill Borough Council.

Otherwise, there were no contests in either Lansford or Nesquehoning, although there will be contests in the fall.

Here is what the ballot results looked like in the PV communities:

Summit Hill

There were six people running for four nominations for four-year positions on the council.

The winners were Karen Ruzicka, 287 votes, Gregory V. Kosciolek, 274, Michael Kokinda II, 266, and David A. Wargo, 246. Losing out were Sara Ruch, 190, and Joseph “Kossie” Kosalko, 174.

There was also one nomination for a two-year term on the council and that went to Kokinda with 115 votes. Others who sought that nomination were Kosciolek, 115, Ruzicka, 91, Ruch, 77, and Wargo, 59.

There were 83 Republican write-in votes for the four-year terms and 29 GOP write-in votes for the two-year term that will have to be reviewed to determine if anyone won a nomination on either party.

Lansford

The Lansford voters will be filling four four-year terms on borough council, as well as a two-year term for mayor.

Republican Michele Bartek was the lone candidate on the ballot for mayor. She received 135 token votes. However, there were 100 write-in votes from Democrats that will determine if Bartek has an opponent or not in November.

In the council race, two Democrats ran unopposed. They are Lou Labosky, who collected 149 token votes, and Mary Soberick, who garnered 136 complimentary voters. There were also 52 Democratic write-in votes.

On the GOP side were four candidates who were all unopposed. Receiving the complimentary votes from their party were Bruce Markovich, 161, John Turcmanovich, 136, William Chuma, 135, and Martin S. Ditsky, 118.

Nesquehoning

There was a shortage of candidates in Nesquehoning, where the voters are expected to fill four four-year terms on the borough council this year.

The lone Democratic candidate this time around was Frank Jacobs, who garnered 290 complimentary votes. There were also 45 Democratic write-in votes.

Running on the Republican side were Michael J. Radocha, who collected 184 token votes, and George Sabol, who tallied 146. There were also 22 write-in votes.

The write-in votes are reviewed by the county’s election board to determine if anyone wins a nomination via that method.