The Greater Nanticoke Area School District had officially informed Luzerne County’s Election Bureau that five school board members must be elected this year instead of the correct number of four, county officials said Thursday.
As a result, both the May 16 primary election and Nov. 7 general election ballots instructed voters to select five.
No corrective action is needed, however, because only four candidates appeared on the ballot in that race and were elected Nov. 7, officials said: Tony Prushinski, Mark Cardone, David Vnuk and Erika McQuown Jacobs.
School board candidates can cross-file in the primary, and all four secured both the Republican and Democratic nominations to advance to the general. There were no other ballot contenders.
Because only four seats are open, the county won’t be proceeding with a write-in notification letter to fill the fifth slot that never existed, officials said. The highest number of write-in votes was eight for John Telencho.
No write-in nominees advanced in the primary because at least 100 votes are required, and nobody met that threshold. That write-in vote minimum does not apply in the general election.
As proof the county was not at fault, a release from county Administrative Services Division Head Jennifer Pecora said Greater Nanticoke Area sent an online form to the bureau at 10:39 a.m. Feb. 7 stating five school board members must be elected for four-year terms.
School districts and the county’s 76 municipalities are responsible for providing accurate information to the county on which seats must appear on the ballot in their jurisdictions, Pecora said.
Based on the experience with Greater Nanticoke Area, the county has decided it will now require electronic submission of all ballot content information to ensure the information is instantly accessible if a question arises,…
