Statewide judicial races, retentions highlight Tuesday鈥檚 election
It’s been said that all politics is local, but Tuesday’s off-year general election will focus mostly on statewide judicial retentions and races, including a Washington County judge running for appellate court.
The political battle lines have been drawn with three state Supreme Court justices – Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht – up for a retention vote for another 10-year term on the high court, with Republicans urging voters to vote “no” and Democrats pushing their supporters to vote “yes.”
But an added wrinkle is the candidacy of Washington County Court of Common Pleas Judge Brandon Neuman running on the Democratic ticket for state Superior Court against Republican Maria Battista and independent candidate Daniel Wassmer. That race appears to have spurred more interest locally with a higher-than-usual number of mail-in ballots being sent out in Washington County than typically happens for an off-year election.
Washington County Elections Director Melanie Ostrander said her office sent out 16,780 mail-in ballots to voters and has received back 12,507 as of Friday morning, although people have until 8 p.m. Tuesday to return them to the elections office. That total is nearly an 18% increase over the 2021 off-year election in Washington County when 14,238 mail-ins were sent out with the hotly-debated government study committee referendum on the ballot.
Democratic-allied organizations sent mailers and ballot applications to people who voted in last year’s presidential election but did not participate in this year’s May primary, urging them to apply for mail-in ballots, which seemingly has worked. The return rate of 74% so far is less than what Ostrander is expecting, though, meaning some people are waiting until the last minute to return their ballots or just not vote at all.
“I credit that for the higher number of applications we’ve received,” Ostrander said of Neuman’s candidacy. “Some of that has been attributed to the higher number of requests, but I think our return rate is lower.”
Ostrander thinks turnout in Washington County could reach the low 40s with the heightened interest in Neuman’s race. However, there is only one other competitive countywide row office race with acting county Controller Heather Sheatler running as a Democrat against Republican candidate Pat Phillips.
“Will there be much interest on election day? Unless you’re interested in controller or the judicial retention questions … there really aren’t a lot of (competitive) races,” Ostrander said, although she noted that numerous communities have contested races for local government or school board. “It’s hard to predict what people’s interests will be. There’s all these factors and it’s hard to pinpoint.”
Washington County Commission Chairman Nick Sherman, who is a Republican, thinks the election day turnout will be more in line with previous years since the return rate for mail-in ballots are down. He added that a Republican push to vote against the judicial retentions also might not spur as much participation as the party had hoped.
“Really, with what’s returned (in mail-in votes), we’re right on schedule where we thought we would be when it comes to municipal elections,” Sherman said.
But Commissioner Larry Maggi, who is a Democrat, believes Neuman’s candidacy could help boost turnout in Washington County.
“I think there will be a higher than normal turnout in Washington County this election because of the fact that we have a statewide candidate running from the county and (Neuman’s) campaign has been working hard at getting out the local vote,” Maggi said. “And the fact there is no state budget and the federal government shutdown will motivate some voters.”
In addition to Neuman’s appellate court race, Democrat Stella Tsai and Republican Matt Wolford are running for state Commonwealth Court. Washington County Court of Common Pleas Judge John DiSalle is also up for a retention vote locally.
While there is only one competitive countywide row office race in Washington County and none in Greene County, there are several happening in Fayette County. The most interesting race appears to be the Recorder of Deeds contest that pits Republican incumbent Jon Marietta against Democratic challenger James Santilli.
“I think the row offices here are attracting a lot of attention,” Fayette County Elections Director MaryBeth Kuznik said. “They’re quite interesting to the voters.”
The two other competitive row office elections include Republican Treasurer Melissa Tzan being challenged by Democrat Matthew Lancaster, and Democratic Jury Commissioner Trinette Schmidt-Cunningham running against Republican challenger Frank Mutnansky.
Kuznik said the county elections office sent out 9,118 mail-in ballots and has received 6,235 back as of Friday morning.
She added that 13 high school students from across Fayette County will be assisting at the polls as part of a program to boost civic engagement with young people. Students must be at least 17 and get approval from their parents and high school principal in order to help with the elections working as clerks and getting paid the same daily wage as other poll workers.
“We’re very excited about that,” Kuznik said. “This is a great opportunity for these students to see how elections work on the inside.”
The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.