May 17, 2018 2 min read

Each primary is a nominating process, but within a primary there are also election of candidates who have a “one and done” contest that doesn’t carry over to the November election.

That’s the case with Democrats and Republicans running for their state party committees, who were elected to four-year terms Tuesday.

Washington County Democrats were to choose not more than four candidates from a list of six. The two women and two men who were the highest vote-getters would get the nod.

Here are the results:

Christina Proctor of North Strabane, 9,972

Sandy Sabot of North Franklin, 8,882

Charles A. Crouse of East Washington, 6,476

Alan Benyak of Carroll Township, 5,543

Bob Sabot of North Franklin, 5,250

R. Benjamin Bright, 3,610

Melanie Ostrander, assistant director of the Washington County elections office, said the number of votes separating Benyak and Bob Sabot were within the number of yet-to-be-counted 454 Democratic absentee ballots.

Civilian and military absentee ballots, postmarked by May 14 and received by May 22, could also figure in a close race. Ostrander said there are 29 of these ballots outstanding.

Larry Spahr, elections director, said he had never seen a full-color, countywide direct mail effort to reach Democrats like the one Benyak, who ran unsuccessfully for the 49th Legislative District in 2016, produced in advance of the May 15 primary.

According to unofficial results from election night, Benyak received 13.9 percent of the votes to Bob Sabot’s 13.1.

On the Republican ballot, voters could choose no more than five candidates. The two men with the highest totals and the two women with the highest totals would be elected, and ballot instructions said, “The person with the next-highest number of votes shall also be elected.”

Here are the totals on the GOP ballot, beginning with the top five vote-getters:

Nick Sherman of North Strabane, 6,585

Thomas J. Uram, also of North Strabane, 6,309

Sonia Stopperich, also of North Strabane, 6,610

Angela S. DeThomas of Washington, 5,541

Christina Rotunda Zaccone of South Frankin, 5,472

Willliam Merrell of Peters Township, 4,868

Monica Merrell, also of Peters Township, 4,861

Doyle W. Young III, also of Peters Township 4,141

There are 315 Republican absentee ballots that have not yet been counted.

In Greene County, Democrat Robbie Matesic of Waynesburg and Republican Betsy Rohanna McClure of Franklin Township were each running unopposed on their respective state committee ballots.

Pennsylvanians were also choosing precinct-level members of county major party committees, with results available on county elections websites.