Snyder, Coder unofficially win nomination for Greene commissioner
WAYNESBURG – Greene County voters in all 44 precincts took to the polls on Tuesday, and when the smoke had cleared it appeared obvious that the incumbent Democratic candidates in the county commissioners’ race were victorious. According to unofficial poll results, county commissioners Pam Snyder and Dave Coder unofficially won the Democratic nominations for the November general election after defeating challenger Mark Starostanko. Snyder led with 4,343 votes, while Coder finished with 3,771 votes and Starostanko received 2,535 votes.
Republican candidates running for commissioner were Mark Snyder, who led with 1,282 votes; Archie Trader, who received 1,085 votes; and John Gardner, who received 461 votes.
The two candidates from each party with the most votes in the Tuesday primary will run against each other in the November general elections, when three will be elected.
The race for Greene County District Attorney turned out to be close, as incumbent Marjorie Fox received 3,298 total votes and David Pollock received 2,971 votes. Both candidates are Democrats, but a total of 840 write-in votes for district attorney were cast by Republican registered voters, according to reports.
In the race for magisterial district judge for District 13-3-03, incumbent Lee Watson was unofficially declared the winner, winning nominations on both of the Democratic and Republican ballots against his only challenger, Dave Reid. On the Democratic side, Watson received 1,418 votes to Reid’s 767 votes, while on the Republican side Watson received 336 to Reid’s 144.
According to the elections office, 8,803 of the 25,159 registered voters in Greene County cast their ballot on Tuesday, or nearly 39 percent of the total number of voters. Roughly 75 percent of the 16,875 registered Democrats in Greene County cast their ballots, as did 24.6 percent of the 6,632 registered Republicans.
The first precinct to report after the polls had closed at 8 p.m. was Waynesburg Borough 2, which reported at 8:35 p.m. The last precinct to report was Franklin East, which reported at 10:17 p.m.
The Tuesday primary marked the third consecutive election in which Greene County voters used the iVotronic electronic touch-screen systems. The iVotronic machines are similar to the UniLect electronic system, which the county had used since 1998 before they were decertified in 2005 by the Pa. Department of State. Greene used an optic scan, paper ballot system for the 2005 primary and general elections.
Frances Pratt, director of the county elections office, said there were only a few minor problems reported with the new iVotronic systems around the county, including some technical glitches that were immediately corrected by county employees trained to fix the machines.
Pratt commended the election office and the district boards, who she said were very well-prepared for the primary, which resulted “in a very smoothly run election.”
Pratt said the canvas board will convene on Friday at 9 a.m. in the elections office, which is the first step toward officially certifying the results of the primary.