Luzerne County publicly posts May 16 primary election write-in tallies

Luzerne County has started updating its May 16 primary election results database to report the unofficial write-in tallies.

The database is on the main page at luzernecounty.org.

These results show county District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce has received the Democratic nomination with at least 785 write-in votes. No Democrats had appeared on the ballot, and Sanguedolce won the Republican nomination with no opposition.

In the Wilkes-Barre City Council District B race, Tony Brooks secured 280 Democratic write-in votes, which means he is set to receive the party’s nomination instead of Mark Shaffer, who appeared on the ballot and obtained 215 votes.

Brooks still has a pending court filing seeking the tallying of an unknown number of additional write-in votes in which voters did not shade in the accompanying ovals when they wrote in their selection.

Brooks ran unopposed on the Republican ballot and secured that nomination with 182 votes.

“My campaign proves that you can bring people together for the betterment of Wilkes-Barre,” Brooks said. “There are hundreds of people who want to work together for positive change in the city. I want to thank supporters from both parties that elected me.”

Write-in votes are determining nominees in the Hanover Area School Board race because no candidates appeared on the ballot for five open seats.

Five men ran as a team seeking the write-in nominations from both parties: Brian C. McDermott, Paul Holmgren, Jacob S. Hyder, Michael D. Mazur and Matthew Redick.

Based on the new write-in tally, here are those with the top five votes:

• Democrat — McDermott, 262; Holmgren, 255; Mazur, 243; Hyder, 218; and Redick, 201.

• Republican — McDermott, 339; Mazur, 318; Holmgren, 309; Hyder, 301; and Redick, 128. Another 188 voters cast write-in votes for “Matthew redick” with a lower-case letter in the last name.

Lucas Matthews received 100 write-in votes and another 34 were cast under “Luke Matthews.”

Candidates seeking credit for write-in votes cast under different variations of their name must file a court request in the county prothonotary’s office within five days after the primary results are certified. The county election board plans to certify the results on Monday.

McDermott said the victory is “very humbling.” The team owned up to the fact that their names did not appear on the ballot due to an error with the timely filing of paperwork and promised to not make such a mistake again, he said. The five then launched an aggressive write-in campaign.

“The entire team is elated with the results. We can’t believe that many people took the time to write us in,” McDermott said. “It’s awe-inspiring. We really appreciate it.”