While eight Democratic Senators broke rank with their party Sunday night to reach a deal with Republicans to end the federal government shutdown, Pennsylvania has gone more than 130 days without a state budget. That's hitting school districts and charter schools in particular.

Lackawanna County District Attorney Brian Gallagher said a judge of elections interested in getting elected to the job wrote her name on ballots under the section for the judge office and handed them to voters on Election Day.

Democrats won a lot of elections statewide Tuesday and that includes in Northeast and North Central Pennsylvania. Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti won the marquee race of the night, the third time city voters elected her mayor.

Former state Rep. Thom Welby, a Democrat, easily defeated two challengers to win the right to finish out the term of former Commissioner Matt McGloin.

Voters have given Democrats Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht 10 more years on the bench in a contentious race that saw partisan tensions running high and substantial campaign spending.

By mid-afternoon on Election Day most election officials agreed turnout in Hazleton was 'better than expected, but still low.' At one City Hall polling site, about 100 ballots had been cast out of roughly 800 registered voters.

Despite knowing she plans to run for Congress next year, Scranton voters handed Mayor Paige Cognetti a huge victory in her bid for another term as mayor.

Follow along with WVIA News today for the most up-to-date Election Coverage. The News Team is checking in at voting precincts, talking to voters and covering any issues in the region with election updates at wvia.org throughout the day, ending with the most complete results in the top-contested races.

Los votantes de Hazleton pueden decidir la forma futura del gobierno de la ciudad el martes.

The city's primary election ballots have a question that asks voters if they favor creating a commission to study adopting a home rule charter