A special election to replace state Rep. Justin Walsh should be held in conjunction with the upcoming presidential primary in April, Westmoreland County’s top election official said.

“It’s much easier to do it at the same time as the primary. It’s just adding another race to the ballot,” said Beth Lechman, director of the county’s elections bureau.

Walsh, a Rostraver Republican, was elected last week to the Common Pleas Court bench. He said he will likely resign his post in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives a day before being sworn in as judge. The swearing-in for Walsh and all other newly elected Westmoreland County judges and office holders is expected to be in late December, after Christmas.

Walsh was elected to his state House seat in 2016 and re-elected to a second two-year term last year to represent the 58th District, which includes Belle Vernon, East Huntingdon, Jeannette, Monessen, Mt. Pleasant, Rostraver, Sewickley, South Huntingdon and West Newton along with parts of Hempfield.

A replacement to finish his last few months in office will be chosen in a special election between candidates nominated by the county’s Democratic and Republican party committees. A date for the special election will be scheduled by Gov. Tom Wolf after Walsh officially resigns.

In addition to the presidential primary in April, voters also will nominate candidates for Congress as well as seats in the state House and Senate that will be contested in the November general election.

The last special election to fill a vacant state House seat in Westmoreland County was held in March 2016, a month before that year’s presidential primary. A special election for a congressional seat in Westmoreland, Allegheny and Washington counties was conducted in March 2018, two months before that year’s regularly scheduled primary.

Although the state is expected to pay for most of the costs associated with the special election next year, Lechman said logistics of the early balloting would create a strain on county staff and require the county to rent voting equipment. County officials this year bought a new voting system that is scheduled to debut in the April primary.

“We’re hoping (a special election) is not done in March because of our new equipment and law changes about registration periods and absentee voting. So, it would be best if it is done at the time of the primary,” Lechman said.

Voting machines used during the special election would have to be impounded for at least 30 days following the polling in case recounts are required, she added.

Candidates are already lining up to replace Walsh.

Democrat Robert Prah, 37, of Rostraver, a U.S. Army veteran who works as director of Military and Veterans Affairs at California University of Pennsylvania, launched a campaign for the office in the summer.

On Wednesday, Ken Bach, president of the Yough School Board, said he also would be a Democratic candidate for the office. Bach, 52, of South Huntingdon owns an auto repair shop. He wants to improve state financing of local school districts.

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