AP Photo
The fight against reconfiguration in the Warren County School District has sent four new members to the Warren County School Board.
But the failure to get a fifth across the line means that an attempt to reshape the board won’t have the majority it looked like it would after the primary in May.
The reconfiguration issue drove slates of candidates to the ballot in Region II – which includes Sheffield – and Region III – which includes Youngsville.
Those were the schools mostly recently discussed in plans for reconfiguration or consolidation opposed by the group 2Schools1Fight.
One Region III seat was secured by Dan Sullivan.
But incumbent Kevin Lindvay was able to hold on to his seat in Region III, defeating Kristopher Hodak 1,468 to 1,132, according to unofficial results posted by the county’s elections department.
Lindvay had initially lost in the primary back in May to Wendy MacQueen. MacQueen subsequently dropped out of the race and Lindvay was added to the ballot by the county Republican committee.
Stephanie Snell, Tammi Holden and Savanna Cochran swept the race for three seats in Region II.
Lindvay’s election, though, has blocked what would have been a majority takeover of the school board by those opposed to reconfiguration.
John Wortman was unopposed for a seat on the board in Region I, which includes the City of Warren.
Maurice Cashman also appears to have secured a two-year term on Warren County Council.
Kevin Sheldon had coordinated a write-in effort against Cashman, who secured a total of 742 votes. While write-in votes won’t be adjudicated until later this week, only 452 were reported in that race.
Opposition to the proposed downtown senior living project drove that challenge.
Three four-year seats went uncontested and Phil Gilbert, Danielle Flasher and John Barbera won those on Tuesday.
Uncontested races at the county level for commissioner, sheriff, treasurer, register & recorder, county auditor and two magisterial district judgeships were also settled Tuesday.
Former Sheriff Ken Klakamp was the top vote-getter in the commissioners race with 5,096, followed by incumbent Tricia Durbin with 4,533 and County Planner Dan Glotz who tallied 3,352.
“It will be an honor to serve you as a County Commissioner,” Klakamp posted to Facebook after the results came in. “Please remember my door is always open. Regardless of political affiliation it is my obligation to serve all the people.”
Lisa Burkhouse was elected to another term as register and recorder and Scott Neiswonger and Lisa Barr to a first term as sheriff and treasurer, respectively.
Magisterial District Judges Raymond Zydonik and Lisa Bauer were also unopposed.
The only other race that was both local and contested saw Matthew Bell (184 votes) win a spot as a Sheffield Twp. supervisor over J. Jay Fitch (168 votes).
The remaining contested races could be found at the state level for several appeals court judges.
It appears that Democrats swept the night in those races with Daniel McCaffrey elected to the Supreme Court, Jill Beck and Timika Lane elected to the Superior Court (which largely handles criminal appeals) and Matthew Wolfe to the Commonwealth Court (which handles disputes between governmental agencies).
That is according to data at electionreturns.pa.gov.
