May 19, 2025 By Mike Jones 5 min read

The primary election is Tuesday, but turnout is expected to be paltry with so few competitive races on the ballot.

While off-year municipal primaries are typically low turnout affairs, the lack of candidates running for numerous open positions in local and countywide races in Fayette, Greene and Washington counties could depress voting figures.

“I think there is plenty of excitement for the races that have (candidates), but this is always traditionally the lowest (election) turnout. The municipal primary after the presidential election is always low,” Fayette County Elections Director Mary Beth Kuznik said. “It’s a shame, because these are really, really important races. The (local offices) affect your life more than the president.”

In Fayette County, incumbent Recorder of Deeds Jon Marietta Jr. is running for reelection against challenger Christina Becker in the Republican primary, with the winner facing Democrat James Santilli in the November general election. Coreyann Fluker and Trinette Schmidt-Cunningham are running in the Democratic primary for Fayette County jury commissioner, with the winner competing against Republican Frank Mutnansky.

As of Thursday afternoon, the county had sent out 7,445 mail-in ballots and received 4,953 back at the elections office. All mail-in ballots must be received at a person’s county election office by 8 p.m. Tuesday, so it’s best if voters hand deliver them rather than drop them off in the mail. The Fayette County Elections Bureau is located in the former Gallatin Bank building at 2 W. Main St. in Uniontown.

The mail-in ballot return rate has been much lower in Washington County since the Democratic primary has few if any competitive races, which has confused some voters who have called the elections office asking why there are no candidates to choose. The only countywide race of significance in Washington County is for controller, with Brenda Davis, Tony Jacob DeLost, Pat Phillips and Heather Sheatler running in the Republican primary, with no Democratic candidates filed for any of the row office positions.

“People seem to be confused or disinterested by the lack of candidates,” Washington County Elections Director Melanie Ostrander said.

The county had sent out 11,776 mail-in ballots, but only received 5,452 back as of Friday, making it less than half that have been returned. The ballots were later going out than in Fayette County due to a challenge to unsuccessfully remove a candidate from the Canonsburg area magistrate’s race, delaying the process. Ostrander said she has also spoken to the U.S. Postal Service about surprisingly long delivery timelines.

“They’re slow coming in. I know we were late (getting the ballots out), but we don’t even have half of them in yet,” Ostrander said. “I reached out to the post office and told them it was taking longer than usual.”

Ostrander said they have received reports “here and there” from a few voters in various parts of the county who did not receive the yellow secrecy envelopes that ballots are placed in, but they’ve worked with them to send out new ones or find other solutions. If there are issues with the ballots, she urged voters to come to the elections office on the ground floor of the Crossroads Center building at 95 W. Beau St. in Washington and hand deliver their ballots, or they can surrender the entire mail-in packet at their polling place and vote normally or use a provisional ballot if they already sent it in and think there might be an issue.

In Greene County, the mail-in ballots are coming back fast and furious, according to Elections Director Kierra Cannon.

“Things are going really well,” Cannon said. “We’ve been scanning ballots as they come in. We’ve got a lot of ballots in the last couple of days (last week), which is great.”

That might be because the biggest race on the ballot is for Court of Common Pleas judge, with Patrick Fitch and Chris Simms running against each other in the Republican primary, while Simms is also cross-filed as a Democratic candidate.

Cannon said an elections board meeting will be held at 10 a.m. today to appoint judges and inspectors to the polling places. She also urged people with last-minute mail-in ballots to return them to the elections office on the first floor of the county building at 93 E. High St. in Waynesburg.

Statewide, Republicans have competitive races for state appellate courts, with Maria Battista of Clarion County and Ann Marie Wheatcraft of Chester County competing for Superior Court, and Matt Wolford of Erie County and Josh Prince of Berks County running for Commonwealth Court. The winners in that primary will face off against Brandon Neuman of Washington County for Superior Court and Stella Tsai of Philadelphia for Commonwealth Court, both of whom are Democrats running unopposed in the primary.

There are also a variety of municipal and school board races on the ballot.

The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, and all mail-in ballots must be returned no later than 8 p.m.