Westmoreland commissioners approve final certification of municipal, Commonwealth Court races

Westmoreland County commissioners on Monday certified votes from the Nov. 2 election, including those for the judge of the Commonwealth Court that were subject to a recount.

Commissioners unanimously approved the final certification of the municipal election results with the exception of judges of election and inspector of election — which they unanimously approved the precertification of.

Locally, none of the major races on this year’s ballot were close, including the race for district attorney and coroner. Republican challenger Nicole Ziccarelli ousted six-term Democratic incumbent District Attorney John Peck by more than 13,000 votes. Democrat Ken Bacha, who served as coroner since 2002, lost to Republican Tim Carson by 2,300 votes.

Commissioners also approved the recount for the judge of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court as required by the state. Democrat Lori Dumas held a small lead over Republican Drew Crompton for a spot on Commonwealth Court. Dumas is a judge on the Philadelphia County Court of Common Please while Crompton is already an appointee to the bench.

A recount in Pennsylvania is automatically triggered when the margin is 0.5% or less.

In all, the county had to rerun more than 88,000 ballots cast Nov. 2. The Department of State will collect the recount votes, with results posted later this week, officials said.

Approval of the election results came after the county’s elections board last week issued a precertification of results from the election that included races for state judge seats, county row offices, municipal positions and school boards.