Judge rejects Westmoreland primary challenges

A Westmoreland County judge on Friday rejected two lawsuits seeking to invalidate results from the May primary.

Judge Harry Smail Jr. said the lawsuits, both filed without the help of lawyers, were improperly submitted because they did not include verified signatures from 20 district voters and failed to include required bonds. As a result, both were dismissed.

In doing so, the judge left in place final tallies in races for Southmoreland School Board and Sewickley Township supervisor.

One lawsuit sought to invalidate the school board results following disclosure that an available two-year term was excluded from ballots in last month’s primary. The other challenge claimed county officials improperly counted write-in votes in the Democratic primary for township supervisor.

Catherine Fike, a member of the Southmoreland School Board, contended Westmoreland County election officials erroneously placed candidate Brian Shipley among those seeking four available four-year terms on the board in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. Shipley originally filed nomination petitions with the county election bureau seeking a vacant two-year seat that was not included on the ballot, Fike argued.

Shipley finished as the top vote-getter for the four-year seat.

“The elections bureau is now the wild west,” Fike said of the judge’s ruling. She was not a candidate this year, and her school board term expires in 2023.

The judge suggested that, while there was merit to Fike’s challenge, at least partial blame for the error rested with the school district, and he noted defects in Fike’s legal filing prevented him from considering the lawsuit.

“It appears there was a mistake that must be addressed internally. It traces back to the school board that I believe you are a part of,” Smail said.

Westmoreland County solicitor Melissa Guiddy, after Friday’s aborted hearing, said school district officials notified the election bureau in September 2020 about the vacant two-year school board seat, but, in official correspondence in January, only listed the four four-year seats to appear on the May ballots.

“It was a paperwork issue,” Guiddy said.

Other than Fike, Southmoreland officials did not appear in court for the hearing. District Solicitor David Petonic did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

The school district includes a small section of Fayette County. The two-year seat was not included on Fayette County ballots.

Guiddy said the two-year seat will appear on the November ballot. Local Democratic and Republican committees will nominate candidates to appear on the ballot along with the five remaining candidates seeking the four available four-year seats.

The issue involving the Sewickley supervisor’s primary involved allegations the county did not properly count all write-in votes. Jared Filapose contended 47 write-in votes were not attributed to a specific candidate, including several he said contained missspellings of his name.

According to the pre-certified results, no candidates appeared on the Democratic primary ballot for Sewickley supervisor. Filapose received 19 write-in votes, one behind Bill Dull Sr., who was declared the unofficial winner. Dull was the only candidate on the Republican ballot and easily won the GOP primary.

Filapose participated by telephone in Friday’s court hearing. In an email, he said he was disappointed with the judge’s ruling.

“The commissioners should demand all the votes get looked at and counted before authorizing this particular race,” Filapose wrote.

A final certification vote by the county’s elections board is scheduled for June 23.