Reilly, Eichfeld Advance to Fall School Board Election

In spite of wet weather, Saucon Valley voters went to the polls Tuesday, cast ballots for school board and council candidates, and voted "yes" or "no" on a county-wide referendum that would prevent the sale of the Northampton County-owned home for the aged--Gracedale--for five years.

With approximately 98 percent of county precincts reporting their unofficial totals, voters had overwhelmingly opposed the sale of Gracedale, voting approximately 73 percent to 27 percent to keep the facility county-owned in the near future.

In , the familiar names of four incumbent candidates dominated the top spots on both the Republican and Democratic sides of the ticket, but two newcomers emerged as candidates for the fall general election.

A total of seven candidates were cross-filed in the election, meaning they appeared on both the Republican and Democratic ballots. Those candidates included incumbents Sharon Stack, Charles Bartolet, Susan Baxter and Michael Karabin, and newcomers Jeanne Reilly, Robert Phillips and Bryan Eichfeld.

On the Republican ticket, with 100 percent of precincts reporting unofficial results, Sharon Stack was the top vote-getter, followed by Eichfeld, Bartolet, Baxter and Karabin.

On the Democratic side, with 100 percent of precincts reporting unofficial results, Bartolet had received the most votes, followed by Stack, Reilly, Baxter and Karabin.

Consequently, six candidates--Stack, Bartolet, Baxter, Karabin, Reilly and Eichfeld--will appear on the November ballot for five open school board seats.

The seats carry four-year terms.

In that had been competitive earlier this year--with four candidates vying to fill three seats--proved to be anticlimactic, with just three candidates in the race following the withdrawal of Republican incumbent Sandra Yerger.

Current council Vice President Thomas Maxfield, a Republican, had received 374 votes with all eight precincts reporting their unofficial totals. Incumbent Democratic Lower Saucon Councilwoman Priscilla deLeon had received 489 votes and newcomer David Willard had received 360 votes on the Democratic ticket.

Perhaps owing to the fact that Yerger's name no longer appeared on the ballot, there was also a significant number of write-in votes cast, including 42 (or more than 10 percent of the total votes cast) by registered Republicans and 30 by Democrats.

In Hellertown, ballots were cast for three candidates--all Democrats--seeking to fill three open seats on borough council.

Incumbent council members John Bate and Richard Staffieri and newcomer Joseph Pampanin are now the likely fillers of those seats, which carry four-year terms.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting unofficial vote totals, Staffieri had received 219 votes, Bate had received 205 votes and Pampanin, who is currently a member of the Hellertown Planning Commission, had received 189 votes, according to the Northampton County website's elections page.

All primary election results are unofficial until certified by the county.