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Philip Campenni received a Republican nomination in the Wyoming Area School Board race after a tie-breaker procedure Wednesday, according to Luzerne County Election Director Marisa Crispell.
Campenni and candidate Matt Bartoli were tied for the party’s fifth nomination slot, with each receiving 576 votes in the May 21 primary, Crispell said.
While Campenni had initially appeared to be a Republican nominee on election night, Bartoli caught up to him when Wyoming County results were later factored in, Crispell said. That county also has a municipality — Exeter Township — in the school district, records show.
To break the tie, the election office follows a traditional practice of placing numbered balls in a red jar, shaking them and distributing one to each candidate, their proxy or, if no one appears, an election office worker, Crispell said.
In this case, Bartoli attended but received the ball with the No. 2, making Campenni the nominee, she said, noting Campenni did not appear or send a proxy.
Five Wyoming Area seats are up for grabs.
School board candidates can cross-file on both party tickets. In addition to Campenni, the following candidates received both the Democratic and Republican nominations, bolstering their likelihood of a victory in the November general, records show: Toni Valenti, Leonard J. Pribula Jr., Lara Best and Jerry Stofko.
The election office also performed several tie-breakers Wednesday to determine the November general election ballot order of winning nominees in several races, she said.
Write-in winners
Numerous candidates eligible to appear on the ballot due to May primary write-in nominations have been listed on the election page at www.luzernecounty.org, Crispell said.
This list is still unofficial. The nominees won’t become official candidates unless they submit statements of acceptance and other required paperwork by June 20, she said.
“If they don’t, they forfeit that nomination,” Crispell said.
She mailed letters to all write-in winners informing them of their eligibility and requirements.
Although computer access had been interrupted due to a Memorial Day weekend cyber attack, Crispell said she was able to retrieve the write-in tally file from the county information technology department before it shut down computers and servers to prevent the virus from spreading.
As a courtesy, Wyoming County’s election office allowed Crispell to access a printer needed to prepare the winner notification letters, she said.