Apr 13, 2023 4 min read

The state Commonwealth Court has ordered a judge in Washington County to decide whether a Republican candidate running for prothonotary should remain on the ballot.

The appellate court on Tuesday reversed a decision last month by Judge Michael Lucas to deny the election challenge by Prothonotary Laura Hough against Kevin Hill over whether he was properly served the scheduling order for the hearing.

Hough’s attorney, Sean Logue, appealed to Commonwealth Court, arguing that the scheduling order written by Senior Judge Katherine Emery – the original judge assigned to hear election challenges – was too narrow and should not be the reason for the challenge to be dismissed.

Logue’s law clerk accidentally delivered Hill the scheduling order for Kevin Redford, who is running for Washington County commissioner, while Redford received Hill’s order. In denying Hough’s election challenge against Hill, Lucas ruled that mistake meant Emery’s order was not correctly followed.

But Commonwealth Court Judge Stacy Wallace returned the case to Lucas, and he is now required to rule on the “merits” of the challenge against Hill’s nominating papers in which he listed his job status as “self-employed” despite a statement earlier this year that he was unemployed. Hill said during the March 21 hearing challenging his candidacy that he considered himself “self-employed” because he began selling some of his personal sports memorabilia collection on an online auction site in February.

Logue, who also serves as the prothonotary’s solicitor and is chairman of the Washington County Republican Party, said they are pleased that a ruling will be made on the merits of their case.

“We appreciate the Commonwealth Court’s ruling. We don’t think the judiciary in Washington County made any mistakes, it’s just the oddity of the Election Code in question,” Logue said. “Now that the case has been remanded back to Judge Lucas, we look forward to a fair and just ruling.”

Hill’s attorney, John Smith, said in a written statement that they would not appeal the Commonwealth Court’s reversal and were eagerly awaiting a decision by Lucas on the matter.

“Mr. Hill believes it is in the best interest of the citizen electors of Washington County, and for both candidates, that a decision be rendered as soon as possible on the merits,” Smith said.

Hill, of Mt. Pleasant Township, is the only candidate in the Republican primary challenging Hough, a West Pike Run Township resident who is running for reelection after first winning the row office in 2019.

Lucas, who still held a full hearing on the matter March 21 to gather a record of the case, now has until Tuesday to review the evidence and make a ruling. He was appointed to handle several of the election challenge hearings – including the prothonotary race – after Emery contracted COVID-19 last month and was hospitalized for five days, according to a supplemental opinion she filed with Commonwealth Court explaining the reason for her absence.

It’s not known when Lucas will rule, but the appeals are affecting the timeline for how quickly Washington County elections office can send out absentee ballots ahead of the May 16 primary.

Elections Director Melanie Ostrander said she was planning to begin sending the first batch of mail-in ballots to both Democratic and Republican voters on Friday, but the uncertainty over who will be on the Republican ballot in the prothonotary race is delaying both. Ostrander said if Lucas makes a ruling before the end of the week, her office will be able to create a “test deck” ballot by Monday to make sure they’re printed correctly before shipping out the first set of mail-in ballots by April 24. If Lucas waits until next week to issue his opinion, the ballots might not go out until the end of the month, creating a quick turnaround for voters to get them returned by Election Day.

It’s unknown what will happen if either side decides to appeal the decision by Lucas, which could further delay the process. State law requires mail-in ballots to be sent out to voters no later than May 2.